FWD: Morning Manna Aug. 19-BP: Jer. 13; RBTTY: I Cor. 2; Ps. 103-104

 
Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: "Smith, Lynn " <lsmith20@Central.UH.EDU>
Sent: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:57:56 -0500
To: "Smith, Lynn " <lsmith20@Central.UH.EDU>
Subject: Morning Manna Aug. 19-BP: Jer. 13; RBTTY: I Cor. 2; Ps. 103-104
 

August 19                                                     “The Danger of Being Good for Nothing”

 

“So I went and hid it by Euphrates as the Lord commanded me.  And, it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said unto me, ‘Arise, go to Euphrates and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded you to hide there.’  Then, I went to Euphrates and digged and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it—and, behold, the girdle was marred and profitable for nothing.”

                                                                                                                Jeremiah 13:5-7

     Woe to him/her that pursues “fool’s gold” rather than God’s eternal Treasure.

     Worthless and wasted.

     Those are the two watchwords found in today’s Manna.  Jeremiah didn’t quite understand why the Lord instructed him to go get a “linen girdle and put it upon your loins and put it not in water” (v.1).  But, he did it anyway “according to the Word of the Lord and put it on his loins” (v.2).

 

     So often there are times when the Spirit will whisper to us, “Do this” or “Do that.”  At first, we think it’s our own inward inclination and try to ignore it; but, still the Voice persists.  Then, if we’re not careful, we’ll not trying to figure out what God’s up to and end up either perplexed or fail to follow through with what He says.

 

     But, do not do that, Pilgrim.

     When the Lord God says “Go,” go.  Where He leads, follow.  And, if He should lead you into your own “valley full of dead, dry, brittle bones” (Ez. 37:1-2) and then asks you, “Son/Daughter of man, can these bones live again?” (v.3a), do not argue with Him or ask, “What in the world am I doing here?” or “Why did You bring me here?”  Instead, say as Ezekiel did, “Lord, only You know” (v.3b). . .do exactly what He tells you to do (vv.4-10). . .and then watch Him work a miracle in your midst (vv.11-14).

 

     Jeremiah knew he’d been called to call his countrymen into repentance (1:1-19).  The longer and more forcibly he preached, the more actively and aggressively they resisted.  Their hardness of heart and stiffness of neck repeatedly moved him to tears; yet, even those rivulets of compassion that ran down his cheeks failed to soften their hearts of stone.

 

     Even so, the God of Abraham said “Keep on preaching” and “Keep on prophesying.  I’ll tell you when to cease.”  For over 40 years the “Weeping Prophet” wooed and warned. . .preached and pleaded . . .called and cries. . .hearing what the one and true, living God said and then telling it to the people.

     So, we shouldn’t be surprised that Jeremiah did exactly what the Lord said to do, donned the linen girdle, went to the Euphrates River—which has its headwaters in modern-day Turkey and flows down through Iraq—and hid it in a cleft in a rock next to the river’s edge.  Then, when God said “Take it out”. . .and it was ruined—“good for nothing”—the Lord said “Now, hold it up and tell the people that their worship is worthless and their lives are wasted” (v.10). . . “for I prepared them to be My People of Praise and Glory, but they would not hear” (v.11).  Whatever the Lord’s called you to do or say, Pilgrim, do it—and leave the results up to Him.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

Mr. Lynn M. Smith

Department Business Administrator

Department of Economics

University of Houston

204C McElhinney Hall

Houston, TX 77204-5019

(713) 743-3802 (office)

(713) 743-3798 (fax)

LSmith20@central.uh.edu (email)

http://www.class.uh.edu/econ/ (department website)