THE LORD SPOKE (October 26)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Jeremiah 36-37

It was winter and it was cold. But the frigid heart of the man on the throne was what made it worse. No “fire burning in the firepot” (36:23) was warm enough to warm Jehoiakim’s chilled soul. That cold was the result of turning his ear away from the Word of God. As Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, read the words that had come directly from God (36:3), the king had them thrown into the fire, page by page (36:23).

The numbing cold on the throne caused a chill on everyone in the vicinity. From the palace servants to the king’s personal secretary and from the royal court to the rural countryside, King Jehoiakim’s frozen spirit had a deadening effect on the nation. Imagine, burning the Word of God!

His successor, King Zedekiah didn’t even try to change things. “Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet” (37:2). The last king of Judah could have made a difference but the ripple effect of coldness had paralyzed a whole nation like a Narnian winter.

One tiny spot of warmth in this picture comes from Baruch, Jeremiah’s dedicated scribe. He stayed by the prophet’s side. He faithfully captured on paper the words that Jeremiah dictated as they came to him from the Lord. Baruch patiently recopied them after the king had the manuscript burned. He didn’t give up, even when his own life was in jeopardy. Historical evidence indicates that he had to do it several times (the Septuagint is considerably longer than our Hebrew text, probably reflecting the multiple manuscripts that were available).

Did it pay off? Was it worth it? Well, you’re here today 2500+ years later still reaping the reward. The copy of Jeremiah’s words which you hold in your hands is, in part, the result of Jeremiah and Baruch’s dedication to the task. Will you commit too? Will you help to preserve and protect God’s Word and, more importantly, will you pass it on to others?

It will drive the cold out of your soul.


Psalms 79-80

The setting is probably the massive Assyrian assault on Israel from the north. Judah was temporarily spared, but only temporarily. In fact, the southern kingdom had received a sudden influx of Israelite refugees, especially around the Jerusalem area. The feeling was, “God will surely spare the Temple. Jerusalem will be the last to fall.”

So men from Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh (Ps. 80:2) are among those who fled to Jerusalem. Their prayer is, “Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved” (Ps. 80:3). But the cry increases in intensity as the psalm progresses. “O God” (vs. 3) becomes “O God Almighty” (vs. 7) and then “O Lord God Almighty” (vs. 19) as this same refrain is repeated twice more. The psalm is composed of five stanzas for four lines each (in Hebrew), with this recurring petition coming after stanzas one, two, and five. Even its absence after stanzas three and four only heightens the urgency of the appeal.

Have you ever been in that position? It feels almost as if God Himself has hidden purposely from you? You feel like a wandering lamb in the forest and you know there are wild boars in the vicinity (vs. 1,13). But the imagery in Psalm 80 shifts to that of a choice vine, once pampered but now without protection (vs. 8-16; c.f. Is. 5:1-7). Though it had grown and spread amazingly - even mountains and great cedar trees rested in its shade (vs. 10) - now it was ravaged, cut down, and burned with fire (vs. 13,16).

Even so had God brought judgment upon the northern kingdom at the hand of the Assyrians. Jerusalem itself was feeling the threat and God did make His face to shine upon them just a few years later by destroying Sennacherib’s whole Assyrian army (see II Ki. 18-19) in the days of King Hezekiah.

Where are you right now? Is God’s face shining upon you? Or do you need to pray, “Return to me, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this broken down creature!” (see vs. 14). The next breath must be, “I will not turn away from you; revive me, and I will call upon your name” ( vs. 18).

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.