Micah Bemenderfer

May 23, 2022

Passage Read:  Jeremiah 9-12
Meditation Verses: 12:14-17

Thought

The Lord will cast out His people from their land because they did not obey Him. But afterwards, He promises to have pity on them and bring them back to their land, to restore their inheritance to them. If they then do not learn to walk in His ways after being so disciplined, then He will again tear them out of the land and destroy them as a nation. The point of discipline is to bring about change and obedience. God sent them into exile in Babylon, then brought them back. The people seemed to have learned their lesson, somewhat, but by Jesus' day, they still didn't understand the Lord, but instead had created a religious system that kept people from knowing the Lord, even while it promised peace. And they were again cast from their land. Now once more they have been regathered. All these things happened to them as examples to us, that we might not make their same mistakes. We are given mercy so that we too would learn to walk in God's ways, which are not too difficult. Will we be obedient or end up cut off from the Lord, back in the state where He found us.

Application

The Lord is consistent in His call for obedience. When He cleanses a people, they are not to turn back to their old ways, but to walk in cleanness and holiness. We too are to forsake our sins and walk in holiness, and only then will we have assurance of salvation, not a feeling but knowledge. After I am redeemed, I need to walk in obedience to the Lord, and I need to stop thinking obedience is too hard. Even if it is too hard for me on my own, I am no longer alone; God's Spirit dwells in me. I have no reasonable excuse.