Here, there, and everywhere

"Am I a God near at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.  – Jeremiah 23.23-24

The omnipresence, or the everywhereness, of God is an important truth for us to grasp and apply. If we are not aware that God is everywhere we are going to find ourselves feeling very weak and very alone. We are going to feel like no one knows what we are going through. Aloneness is a terrible thing – but it is something no Christian ever need fear.

God asks ‘Am I a God that is only close by and not far away?’ Can anyone hide from God so that I can’t see him? (Adam and Eve tried that) Don’t I fill heaven and earth?

David expressed it wonderfully in Psalm 139 –

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

It is a blessed thought that there is no where we can go where God is not. No matter what I am going through I can be sure that God is right there with me. I don’t have to worry about what I will be going through tomorrow because God is already there.

Here, there, and everywhere. That’s where God is. Let me rest in that wonderful truth. 

Take the mark

For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? – Jeremiah 23.18

Jeremiah continues on with his focus on the word of God.

Who has stood in the counsel of the Lord?

Who had perceived His word?

Who has heard His word?

Who has marked His word?

I like all those questions. They are questions we should ask ourselves. Have we sought God’s counsel in our daily lives? Have we perceived His perspective through His word? Have we heard His word today? And have we marked His word?

I like that last question. This idea of mark is the place where we plant our flag. This ‘mark’ is the rallying point. In rugby the mark is a place of safety where the player cannot be hit and from where he can start play safely again.

It is strange where we take the mark. He Jeremiah speaks of taking our mark on the word of God. We can take on mark on what is popular, or based on our own desires, or what others say, or what our culture dictates.

We though need to ‘take the mark’ on the word of God. That is our safe place. That is where we prepare for the ‘next play’ in our lives. It is not a place to stop, but to get in position to play on.

Do we mark the word of God, hear it, and move on? 

O earth, earth, earth!!

O earth, earth, earth, Hear the word of the LORD! – Jeremiah 22.29

What a plaintive cry we hear in this verse. There is a whole section of Jeremiah here that focuses on the importance of the word of God. We tend to think of the New Testament as the place for that God of emphasis, but Jeremiah has a real heart for the word of the Lord.

Here is the great cry, thrice repeated ‘O earth, earth, earth!’ God is certainly trying to get man’s attention. Three times God says the same thing. It’s almost like he is trying to get the world’s attention.

What is worth three saying three times? What is the focus of the attention? It seems like such a simple thing – ‘hear the word of the Lord!’

This world is in a terrible mess. No wonder we hear the cry ‘O earth, earth earth!’ God knows that the whole world needs to hear His word.

But how are they going to hear it. They can’t be saved without the word of God and they can’t hear unless someone tells them.

And guess who that is? It’s not the preacher or the church leaders or the missionary. It’s you and me that God calls to share his word.  How will they hear unless we tell them? 

They will not prosper

But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.  – Jeremiah 20.11

It sure doesn’t seem like things are going our way. I was looking at the 2016 Irish census results a few days ago and was saddened to see that the percentage as those who identify as any kind of evangelical Christian has dropped again. The total is well under 2% of the Irish population. It is the smallest percentage of evangelicals of any English speaking country in the world.

Not only that, it seems like we are returning to the norm where we as Christians are no longer going to be in some sort of ‘most favoured people’ status. Opposition and persecution has been the lot of God’s people through most of history and most of the world.  Those who live in the ‘christianised west’ have enjoyed freedom and liberty and even favouritism for a long time.

But that is not our lot. Jesus said that those who ‘live godly in Christ Jesus’ will suffer persecution so had better just get used to it. The people in Jeremiah’s day knew all about it. The people in the early church today knew all about it. Christians in North Korean and Sudan and Morocco and so many other places today know about it. I am not sure why we think we ought to be exempt.

It is a scary thought, but we can be assured that no matter what we have to face we are on the Victor’s side. The enemies of God will stumble. They will not prevail. They will be ashamed. They will not prosper. Their eternal confusion will never be forgotten.

Why? Because the Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome one!

We will get through whatever may come our way in the way of persecution and come out like fine gold on the other side. 

I quit!

For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, "Violence and plunder!" Because the word of the LORD was made to me A reproach and a derision daily. Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not. – Jeremiah 20.8-9

Jeremiah had had enough. He was trying to be faithful. He was preaching and doing God’s work. He did what God told him to do. But nothing was happening. No one was listening. The people continued in their sin.

So Jeremiah decided to quit. ‘I am going to stop talking about God! I won’t preach any more about Him. I quit.’

Isn’t that something? Jeremiah, one of the great heroes of the word of God said that He was done. He wasn’t going to preach anymore.

How sad is that?

He tried, but he soon found out that He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t quit. He couldn’t keep his mouth shut. God’s word was in his heart. It was like a fire burning in his bones. He was tired of trying to hold it back. He could not quit.

There is nothing wrong with getting discouraged. There is nothing wrong with feeling like quitting. Sometimes folks may even cross the line and stop.

It is what happens next that matters. Jeremiah dusted himself off and got back into the game. He couldn’t stay quit.

That is our test. It gets bad. We back off. We get lazy. We may even stop.

Then what? That is the question. 

Where is the word of the Lord?

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. Indeed they say to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!" – Jeremiah 17.14-15

This taunt of ‘where is the word of the Lord?’ or, in essence, ‘where is your God?’ is one that has always afflicted God’s people. We live by faith and we trust God and we talk about Him and when people don’t see Him work they say ‘where is this God of yours? Why isn’t He helping?’

If we aren’t careful we might join their chorus. If our hope is in our expectation or our plans or our desires then we might well say ‘where is this word of the Lord in my life?’ When He doesn’t act according to our plans or our wisdom we may be tempted to ask ‘where is God in all this?’

I don’t know about you, but I have been there. I have wondered why God is in this or that situation.

Those are the times when we discover if our faith is real. Can I trust God and His word even when I don’t sense their reality in my life?

We walk by faith, not by sight. I walk by faith in the word of God because it is the only answer. Instead of asking ‘where is the word of God?’ my thought ought to be ‘let’s see how God is going to sort this out.’

God’s word is still there – what are we doing with it? 

Whose hope is in the Lord

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.  – Jeremiah 17.7-8

My hope is in the Lord

Who gave Himself for me,

And paid the price of all my sin at Calvary.

No merit of my own

His anger to suppress.

My only hope is found in Jesus’ righteousness.

And now for me He stands

Before the Father’s throne.

He shows His wounded hands and names me as His own.

His grace has planned it all,

’Tis mine but to believe,

And recognize His work of love and Christ receive

Chorus

For me He died,

For me He lives,

And everlasting life and light He freely gives.

Whenever I hear these words I think of this great old gospel song of old. ‘My hope is in the Lord’ ought to be a rallying cry for us. Our hope is not in our bank account or our homes or even other people. I am preaching through 1 Peter right now and the whole letter is about having hope to endure through persecution and trials. In chapter 1 verse 13 Peter writes ‘Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;’

In times of fear and confusion and trouble we can be assured that we can rest our hope fully on the grace that will come when Jesus comes again. We need that hope to get through every day. We need that hope in financial crisis and illness and emotional distress and disaster. We need that hope in eternity that one day it will be worth is all. 

Trusting in man

Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.  – Jeremiah 17.5-6

As I look around from my little corner of the world I see a lot that is good. I see good solid Christians loving each other and loving others. I see people doing good for each other. Sometime it can be easy to think we would be fine without God.

But that would be a mistake. Look at the history of the world and the world today. Eventually man fails. All the great utopias of the world have failed because at the end of the day we all look after number one.

When we start trusting in man it is because we have departed from trusting the Lord and have stopped trusting Him. When we get to that point where we leave off trusting God to trust others it is evidence that our hearts have departed from the Lord.

There is a lot of ‘trusting in man’ on today. There are folks for whom trusting a man’s politics override his character. Nothing seems to matter as long as their politics are right.

Trusting in man is a dangerous choice. Instead let us do right and trust the Lord with the results. 

There is none like you

Inasmuch as there is none like You, O LORD (You are great, and Your name is great in might), Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You. – Jeremiah 10.6-7

All men are looking for something. Man always has. God has put eternity in man’s heart and man is always looking to satisfy what to do with knowledge.

The issue is that people are looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places. Man never will get what he really wants because sometimes he doesn’t even know what he wants. There is nothing and no one like the Lord.

‘Who would not fear You, for this is your rightful due?’

That seems like a fair question to me. Who would not choose to follow the One who knows everything? Who would not choose to follow the One who is all-powerful? Who would not choose to the One who is eternal and never changing? Who would not choose the One who is all-love?

Part of the problem is that people have a wrong view of God and their wrong view of God can come from the way His people represent Him here on earth. A true image of God would draw men to Him. That’s why Jesus said we can summarise the Law by living God and loving others. Our actions too often turn people off from God. When we are full of hate and anger and harsh words and we support public figures who do the same no wonder people don’t want to ‘fear the Lord.’

Most people’s view of God comes though the lives of His people. Let’s be sure that we are drawing men to God and not turning them away. There is none like Him. Our lives ought to reflect that great truth. 

Glory in this

Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD. – Jeremiah 9.23-24

Wise men should not glory in their wisdom. Mighty men should not glory in their might. Rich men should not glory in their wealth.

Of course when I read this my mind is drawn to 1 Corinthians 1 where we read:

 ‘For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;’

There is clearly a temptation for those who are wise and mighty and noble to think that, when something is accomplished, it was accomplished at least in part, because of their ability. It is only natural.

Paul just builds on this verse in Jeremiah when he wrote to the Corinthians. Because the wise man has to be told not to glory in his wisdom or the mighty man to glory in his might Paul says that God doesn’t often use the wise and mighty and noble because it is too easy to give them the glory.

So God uses people like you and me. I am so blessed by this. I don’t have to be strong. I don’t have to be wise. I don’t have to be rich. I don’t have to be nobility. I just have to be me because when I am me it is obvious that whatever I do is being done by God and He is the only to whom glory may be given.

God delights in us knowing Him. That is all we can glory in, not in we are or what we do, but because we understand and know Him. He deserves all the glory because He exercises lovingkindness and judgement and righteousness in this world. No man, no matter how rich or strong or mighty can do that – so let us give all glory to Him! 

They don't know how to blush

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment They shall be cast down," says the LORD. – Jeremiah 8.12

What a wonderful way to describe the world we live in today. Were the people in Jeremiah's ashamed of their sin? No, in fact they didn’t even know how to blush. Is our world ashamed of its sin today?

The strange thing is that blushing has almost become something to be embarrassed about. No one likes to look a ‘prude’ or an innocent. We are embarrassed to be embarrassed, we are ashamed of being ashamed, the thought of blushing makes us blush.

That’s a real tragedy. Sin ought to make us blush. There are things that are a shame to speak of even in private. A lack of sensitivity to sin should be something to concern us. If we can’t blush at our sin something is seriously wrong.

Even in these days of open mindedness and moral ‘freedom’ and open sin and marches and parades and celebrations of sin God’s people have work to do if we are not embarrassed by the sin around us.

But it is even worse when we are not shamed by the sin in our own lives. The ‘little’ inner sins in our hearts can get so entrenched that we grow accustomed to them being there and the shame we once felt is gone.

That shame should not lead us to live guilt ravaged lives. Instead our shame should lead us to repentance and seeking God’s forgiveness.

It is vital that God’s people blush at sin – and then do something about it. 

Follow your heart??

"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? – Jeremiah 17.9

‘Follow your heart and you can’t go wrong.’

How often do we hear this kind of advice? It seems to make sense, I suppose, without God in the picture. If there is no God then we are our own god and no one knows us like we do.

But there is a God who knows and loves us and knows best. We are broken vessels because of sin. Look at the world around us to see what it is like when everyone follows the dictates of their own hearts.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

That’s why we see the kinds of news stories we see every day. Sure, man is capable of goodness and kindness and love, but the wicked heart of mankind is why we see the horrible crimes and wars and attacks that we see day by day by day.

We really can’t trust our hearts. They may get things right sometimes, but they simply can’t really be trusted. Eventually they will let us down and get us into trouble.

We need to be careful of trusting our hearts. In fact, we are told that we need to constantly keep our hearts on guard. We need to keep our hearts with all keeping because they tend toward the flesh.

Don’t trust your heart. Trust the word of God. 

Backward, not forward

But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. – Jeremiah 7.23-24

God says ‘obey my voice and I will be your God. Walk in my ways and it will be well with you.’ But these people would not do it. They followed their own hearts and they went backward, not forward, in their spiritual lives.

I am preaching through 1 Peter and a great theme there in chapter two is the importance of growth in our Christian lives. Our goal is always to be moving forward and onward.

Why then do we so often find ourselves slipping backward? Or why does it seem like we find the Christian life so dull and boring and we seeing ourselves becoming complacent about the word of God?

In truth it is because growing in Christ takes work. If we just stop paddling upstream we are always going to drift back downstream. Moving on takes effort, floating back requires nothing.

The word of God tells us that if we have tasted that the Lord is good, we ought to lay aside certain sins and then crave the word of God so that we can grow on to perfection. We are to constantly strive to move on to maturity. Our time is too precious to keep slipping back to where we were.

Forget those things that are behind. Press on to the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

We are delivered

"Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," says the LORD. – Jeremiah 7.8-11

I was a bit amazed when I read this passage. I know I have read it many times in my Bible reading but was surprised when I saw the cheek of God’s people in Isaiah’s day. They trusted lying words. The stole and committed adultery and worshipped Baal and followed other gods. And then they go to the Temple in confidence that it would all be okay because God would forgive them!

How is that for a light view of sin? Their cheek! Their shame! Their gall! The utter neck of them!

Until we look at our own miserable hearts. Until we look at our own attitude toward our sin. We may not steal, murder, or commit adultery. We may not commit the sins that are listed here.

But still, how often do we ignore our own sin or treat our sin lightly because we say in our heart ‘I know I shouldn’t do this, but God will forgive me’ and then we go on our merry way?

When we do that, or something similar to it, our hearts should break.  When we do that we are making light of Jesus’ death on the cross. Every blow He took, every glob spit that was hurled, every step where He bore the cross, every cruel blow of the hammer on the nails, every ragged breath He took on the cross, every thorn that pierced His head and the jab of the spear was taken because of that ‘little sin’ that I don’t consider any big deal. When I choose to sin I mock the cross.

One of the criticisms of ‘once saved always saved’ is that it is a licence to sin. Do whatever you want and you are still forgiven. While eternal security is assured, it is certainly no licence to sin. God’s people will not continue in their sin. When we sin lets be aware of the cost. At all times let’s examine our hearts that our actions don’t mock Jesus on the cross.  

Lying words

Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.' "For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.  – Jeremiah 7.4-7

These people in Jeremiah’s day were in all kinds of trouble. They were religious; there can be no doubt about that. They went to the temple. They talked about it properly. They knew how to play the game.

But.

They were unfair in their judgement. The oppressed the strangers in their midst and the fatherless and the widows. They shed innocent blood. They followed other gods. So they said one thing and did another.

Even then God reached out to them. ‘Instead of those lying word you need to do the right things in your lives.’

Anyone can say the right ‘praise the Lord’ words – how many of us back those words up with our actions?  Be a peacemaker, take care of strangers and the fatherless and the widows, stop the violence, get rid of all the false gods that have crept in. Then, God says, we can dwell in peace with Him.

Break up the fallow ground

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. – Jeremiah 4.3

This is one of those verses that I can remember back to the first time I came across it. It was probably 30 plus years ago when I had just started a new devotional guide. This was the verse and the question for the day was ‘is there fallow ground in my life?’

Fallow ground is that ground which now longer bears fruit. Sometimes lands are allowed to lie fallow as a part of crop rotation. Sometimes fields are just allowed to lie then for years and weeds and thorns grow up. The soil gets hard and even if seeds were sown they would not take root.

This fallow ground that Isaiah talks about can also apply to our hearts. If we don’t check ourselves we can allow our own hearts to get hard and cold.

That’s why we need to break up the fallow ground of our own hearts so that God’s word can take root there. We let our heart become cold and hard when we do not spend time with God. We all spend plenty of time in this world. We have more possible distractions than at any time in history. Facebook and films and sports and entertainment and work and family and friends are not bad things, but if that is where we spend all our time we don’t have time to spend time in God’s word. If we find ourselves more drawn to the distractions than we do to the word of God and Christian fellowship and going to church and prayer we can be pretty sure that our hearts have become fallow and hard and overgrown.

The answer is not that hard. We need to be less focused on the distractions and more focused on the Lord.  Pray, read the Bible, go to church, spend time with godly friends, pursue holiness. These pursuits will break up the fallow ground so that we are ready to receive God’s word into our hearts and allow it to bear fruit. 

Changing gods

Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit. – Jeremiah 2.11

This is a sad verse. God talks here about nations ‘changing their gods’ that are not gods. This is a statement that does not make a lot of sense to our ears today. I think the question is ‘do people really change their gods?’

The rest of the verse is what matters I think – ‘my people have changed their Glory for that which does not profit.’

That is so tragic. The first thing I think of is the church of Ephesus who had ‘left their first love.’ I also think of the prodigal son who had everything, but left it to go after that which does not profit. I think of Demas who turned back from Paul because he loved this present world.

Sadly God’s people drift from Him. Too often people trade God for junk that doesn’t really matter.

But there is hope. Over and over again, all though the Bible, Old and New Testament alike, God calls on people like this to return to Him. He hates to see them living for things that have no profit. His desire is that they come back to him and share in His glory.

Those who have changed sharing in God’s glory for worthless stuff need to return to God. He is there and He is waiting. 

They will not prevail

They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you," says the LORD, "to deliver you." – Jeremiah 1.19

One of the realities of life that we don’t like to hear or think about is that life is a battle. Right from the very start Jeremiah is told ‘the people of this land are going to fight against you.’ That kind of warning is not just for Jeremiah. In the New Testament we are also told ‘those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.’

So tough times are going to be a part of life for God’s people. As a rule the world is not going to like us. Our lives are never going to fit in with the world. We live for eternity, they live for now. We focus on invisible eternal things and the world focuses on the visible temporal things.

We can’t get lazy. We can’t get lethargic. We can’t get lackadaisical. The trifold enemy of the world, the flesh, and the devil are not going to give up.

But the good news is that ‘they shall not prevail against you.’ They can’t win. They can’t win because God says ‘I am with you to deliver you.’

God is on our side. We cannot fear what man can do to us. Though the battle may seem hard and the days seem dark and fearsome we are going to prevail in the end because God has promised ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’

Arise

"Therefore prepare yourself and arise, And speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land— Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you," says the LORD, "to deliver you." – Jeremiah 1.17-19

Mary and I are still getting back into full schedule mode after a typical slow and quiet August. August is a bit like Christmas in the way that in Ireland most folks kind of slip into a slow, quiet laziness, er, lethargy. It is a big deal to have to get up and face a busy daily schedule. I always need a little push to get back up and get back in the game.

Jeremiah needed a little push – so God gave it to him.

Get up

Get ready

Don’t be dismayed

I will give you the strength to stand

I will protect you

That’s twice in one message where God clearly told Jeremiah what He would do for him. How could Jeremiah doubt?

But then I ask myself how often I doubt God even though His word is so clear and His promises so profound.

It is time to stop doubting God. It is high time to wake up out of our sleep. It’s time to get up, to get ready, and to get busy serving our Lord.

I am with you

Then said I: "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth." But the LORD said to me: "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you," says the LORD. Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

– Isaiah 1.6-9

Jeremiah tried to find an excuse what he could not go. ‘Ah Lord, I cannot speak, I am only a child. You can’t expect me to do that!

That reminds me of Moses, but God had answers for both of them and He has answers for us as well when we don’t think that we can do it.

Let’s summarise in a simple list what God had to say:

Go to the people I send you to

Speak

Don’t be afraid

I am with you

I will deliver you

And then God put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth and said ‘there, I have given you my words.’

This was a particular promise to a particular man, but every one of these promises is made over and over again in the word of God to those God sends out for Him.

It is a scary thought to think about trying to speak for Christ and stand for Him in a world like we live in today. It seems like no one really cares. Few folks are even against God; most just don’t really want to hear about it.

The problem is, God has not changed our task. We still need to share the hope we have in Christ. Even those who don’t seem to care need to see and hear the love of Christ.

So in this we need not be afraid. We need to speak up with courage because God is with us just like He was with Jeremiah. We need to faith to step up and do it. He will give us the words to say if we just go.