In those days and in that time,” says the LORD, “ The children of Israel shall come, They and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping they shall come, And seek the LORD their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying,‘ Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD In a perpetual covenant That will not be forgotten.’My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place--Jeremiah 50:4-6
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
Sometimes it is good to stop and remember. Today as I read through Jeremiah 50 and 51 describing the judgment and destruction that God would bring upon Babylon, I stopped short at this verse and remembered where my resting place is. My resting place is in God, my Savior. He is my shelter.
As God speaks judgment against Babylon, He remembers His people. His people who were in Babylon because of their sin of idolatry...their sin of forgetting Him. Here He predicts blessing for them in verses 4-7 and then again in verses 17-34. He will not forsake Israel...Restoration is coming...sin will be pardoned and they will return to their own land. Destruction, however, awaits Babylon with no promise of restoration or rebuilding. God used Babylon as His instrument of judgment to Judah and now it will experience the Lord's judgment.
Verses 4 and 5 in this chapter of Jeremiah speak to the contrast between how God's people went into captivity...in pride and sin and how they returned. We see them returning with tears of godly sorrow...unlike the worldly tears they shed as they went into captivity. They would now seek after Him and not after idols. Hebrews 12 speaks of this as the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
There is such evil out there today girls...I think of the Philadelphia and the slaughter of innocents for 30 years...I think to the link I just posted where planned parenthood is aiding in the trafficking of young girls for prostitution. Our government is turning a blind eye...we are Babylon. Judgment is coming...evil surrounds us. Where do we find rest...
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Rest in Him...find peace in Him.
You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah --Psalm 32:7
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. --Psalm 91:1
Love
Mom
Showing posts with label Matthew 11:28-30. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew 11:28-30. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, December 10, 2010
Yokes - Jeremiah 27 - 28
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
God once again is asking Jeremiah to do something that is definitely going to make him stand out among the people of Judah. I am pretty sure that everyone in the surrounding area and nations are getting to know this "strange man of God."
This time God told him to put a yoke around his neck to convey the message that Judah and the other nations around her needed to submit and surrender to the "yoke" of Babylon. Jeremiah delivers this same message to the ambassadors from other nations who had come to form an alliance, to King Zedekiah and also to the priests and the people. He told them that the Lord had given all the nations into the hand of his servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and would serve him. If they refused to submit to the king of Babylon's yoke they would die. If they accepted the yoke, they would live. The false prophets were giving Israel hope, but Jeremiah told the truth.
Jeremiah was telling the people to surrender and live. Surrender and live! Take His yoke and live...because make no mistake we are all in bondage in many ways. Be in bondage to the One who can bring blessing from bondage. Be yoked with the One who does not want us to bear it alone. Be yoked with the One who gives sufficient grace for every time of need. All other kinds of yokes and bondage bring death. Life is full of grief, sadness, depression, discouragement, betrayal, illness and death. It is wearying. Jesus said this In Matthew 11:28-30.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”--Matthew 11:28-30
Go to Him, Jesus, and find rest. Take His offer and find rest. Take his yoke...walk with Him daily and learn from Him. Behold Him. Put aside your own ways for His. Allow Him to show you how to live...His commandments are not burdensome...they are for our good and His glory. We can trust Him. He loved us so much that He gave His life for us. He gives us life abundantly here and in eternity.
Girls, what is most taxing...most wearying in my life is me, myself and I. What Pastor Lloyd calls the "trinity of stupidity." It is what causes the majority of my problems. God wants to take that burden from us...He wants us to take off the yoke of self and put on His Son, Jesus. Know that the Lord wants to take from you only those things that cause you unrest and weariness or keep you from drawing close to Him. Remember that when you find yourself in a battle with God. I love what J.H. Jowett says:
"The fatal mistake for the believer is to seek to bear life's load in a single collar. God never intended a man to carry his burden alone. Christ therefore deals only in yokes! A yoke is a neck harness for two, and the Lord himself pleads to be One of the two. He wants to share the labor of any galling task. The secret of peace and victory in the Christian life is found in putting off the taxing collar of “self” and accepting the Master's relaxing “yoke.” "
Love
Mom
God once again is asking Jeremiah to do something that is definitely going to make him stand out among the people of Judah. I am pretty sure that everyone in the surrounding area and nations are getting to know this "strange man of God."
This time God told him to put a yoke around his neck to convey the message that Judah and the other nations around her needed to submit and surrender to the "yoke" of Babylon. Jeremiah delivers this same message to the ambassadors from other nations who had come to form an alliance, to King Zedekiah and also to the priests and the people. He told them that the Lord had given all the nations into the hand of his servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and would serve him. If they refused to submit to the king of Babylon's yoke they would die. If they accepted the yoke, they would live. The false prophets were giving Israel hope, but Jeremiah told the truth.
Jeremiah was telling the people to surrender and live. Surrender and live! Take His yoke and live...because make no mistake we are all in bondage in many ways. Be in bondage to the One who can bring blessing from bondage. Be yoked with the One who does not want us to bear it alone. Be yoked with the One who gives sufficient grace for every time of need. All other kinds of yokes and bondage bring death. Life is full of grief, sadness, depression, discouragement, betrayal, illness and death. It is wearying. Jesus said this In Matthew 11:28-30.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”--Matthew 11:28-30
Go to Him, Jesus, and find rest. Take His offer and find rest. Take his yoke...walk with Him daily and learn from Him. Behold Him. Put aside your own ways for His. Allow Him to show you how to live...His commandments are not burdensome...they are for our good and His glory. We can trust Him. He loved us so much that He gave His life for us. He gives us life abundantly here and in eternity.
Girls, what is most taxing...most wearying in my life is me, myself and I. What Pastor Lloyd calls the "trinity of stupidity." It is what causes the majority of my problems. God wants to take that burden from us...He wants us to take off the yoke of self and put on His Son, Jesus. Know that the Lord wants to take from you only those things that cause you unrest and weariness or keep you from drawing close to Him. Remember that when you find yourself in a battle with God. I love what J.H. Jowett says:
"The fatal mistake for the believer is to seek to bear life's load in a single collar. God never intended a man to carry his burden alone. Christ therefore deals only in yokes! A yoke is a neck harness for two, and the Lord himself pleads to be One of the two. He wants to share the labor of any galling task. The secret of peace and victory in the Christian life is found in putting off the taxing collar of “self” and accepting the Master's relaxing “yoke.” "
Love
Mom
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