I’m so glad you’re back. This journey is a little painful,
but so worth it.
We pick up today in Jeremiah 9. This ungrateful, selfish,
unfaithful Bride.
Today the Groom has had enough. He knows the next part of
the lesson is going to be painful both for Him and His Bride, but He knows how
necessary it is.
Jeremiah 9:7 God asks “What
else can I do?”
(If any of you are parents, you can probably relate.)
This situation is dire. God knows what must be done. His
Bride must learn an important lesson. She
needs knocked off her high horse.
Sisters, the time has come for a wakeup call. There is no
fooling around. Time is up.
“Me or him,” is essentially what we hear from our Holy
Bridegroom.
And guess what, we
didn’t choose our Groom. And there are consequences.
She looks at her Groom and says to herself, ‘I will just
pretend to choose Him. I don’t think He will notice. I’ll go to church, I’ll
participate in choir. I’ll even help with the youth. Surely if I do all these
things my Groom wants me to do, He will see I do still love Him, and then I’ll
just play around on the side. I can have
both.’
Wrong.
We can’t just obey in body. Our heart must be in it. (Jer 9:25)
He will not be mocked, or taken advantage of! (Jer 12:17)
Go back to chapter 9 for a moment, verse 19 specifically.
This Bride is made to be humiliated. But, sisters, is this the end? What a
pitiful story it would be if it was. Well, not pitiful really, just sad. A
little too much like real life if you ask me.
And while this is not a fairy tale, and is indeed real life,
there is a way better ending. This Groom is not just selfishly declaring “enough
is enough; away with you, woman!” It really isn’t in His nature.
Read verse 9:24. Read it again.
The LORD demonstrates unfailing love, and delights in
justice and righteousness.
He really really wants the best for you!
He demonstrates His love by
consequences.
An ugly Bride indeed would be the one who gave herself out
here and there forever in always, no end in sight to her actions, and
unpunished for her faithfulness.
She’d make you sick to look at.
But don’t we? Don’t we think, ‘I’ve got my Heaven-ticket. I’m
good.’
God forbid.
Romans 6:1-2 “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” NLT
We are supposed to be free from this behavior. Released.
Separated. Divorced. Dead. Why do we want to go back to it?
What does that hold for us?
Jer 10:5 says it can do us no good.
(If you just read all of verse 5, you may be looking at me and saying ‘but it also says it can do no harm either’. If so, then you have missed the point. What that verse means is that these false gods hold no power. They are empty, vain, useless.)
Girls. We do have the best groom ever. We do. I beg you not
to look elsewhere for fulfillment.
Jeremiah 10:6 “Lord, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power.” NLT
What an awesome God we serve. He sees us in our disgusting
unfaithfulness and figures out what it will take for us to be restored to a
good relationship once again. As a Holy God, He cannot sit idly by, but as a
Groom with unfailing love, He sets us on a path of healing. Helping us learn
this painful lesson. He does not give up on us so easily. He loves us so much
He wants us back. In spite of ourselves. And He will do what it takes to get us
there.
See you in a couple days, and we’ll take a closer look at how.
In the meantime, spend some time identifying in your heart
whether your service is a front, or if you are doing it out of the raw, wholehearted
love & devotion for Him.
1 Chr 28:9 “…Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought…” NLT
Mt 22:37 “Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.”” NLT
