Wisdom Calls Out in the Marketplace
Greetings in the Lord!
It has been over a year since I received words like this for mainstream, secular, dare I say, liberal America, including quite often a liberal Christian perspective. Today's word comes from Jeremiah 5:12-13,15-17b,19,2123-24,26-28:
"They have lied about the Lord; they said, "He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them."
"O house of Israel," declares the Lord, "I am bringing a distant nation against you--an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors...With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust....And when the people ask, 'Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.'"
"Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like men who set traps to catch men. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. Should I not punish them for this?" declares the Lord. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"
~It is always hard for Americans of all opinions to accept such a direct word like this from the Lord. I'd love to sugarcoat the language, but since I write the words as they are given to me from scripture, you'll have to read another translation, maybe The Message, for something less confrontational. At any rate, the focus of the word today is for those Americans who have not yet understood that there is a time for all things under heaven, and that the Lord's ways are not man's ways. If we seek to understand without the counsel of the Lord and if we bow our knees to the created and not to the Creator we will be running in darkness, serving lifeless idols, to be chased by enemies. Oh, the church loves to teach 'Grace, Grace!' and 'Love! Love!' But what about wisdom?
"Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: 'How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools knowledge?...Since they d knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurred my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." Proverbs 1:22, 29-33.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
It has been over a year since I received words like this for mainstream, secular, dare I say, liberal America, including quite often a liberal Christian perspective. Today's word comes from Jeremiah 5:12-13,15-17b,19,2123-24,26-28:
"They have lied about the Lord; they said, "He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them."
"O house of Israel," declares the Lord, "I am bringing a distant nation against you--an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors...With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust....And when the people ask, 'Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.'"
"Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like men who set traps to catch men. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. Should I not punish them for this?" declares the Lord. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"
~It is always hard for Americans of all opinions to accept such a direct word like this from the Lord. I'd love to sugarcoat the language, but since I write the words as they are given to me from scripture, you'll have to read another translation, maybe The Message, for something less confrontational. At any rate, the focus of the word today is for those Americans who have not yet understood that there is a time for all things under heaven, and that the Lord's ways are not man's ways. If we seek to understand without the counsel of the Lord and if we bow our knees to the created and not to the Creator we will be running in darkness, serving lifeless idols, to be chased by enemies. Oh, the church loves to teach 'Grace, Grace!' and 'Love! Love!' But what about wisdom?
"Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: 'How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools knowledge?...Since they d knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurred my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." Proverbs 1:22, 29-33.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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