Trust God & Honor the Sabbath

JEREMIAH     CHAPTER 17

The Lord's anger against the people of Judah and Jerusalem continues and he talks about how they worship stone idols and even their children worship at these false altars and Asherah poles. So he will give their wealth, treasures and pagan shrines to their enemies and send them all to foreign lands as captives.

The Lord says, "Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord. . . . But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence." He tells that the human heart is deceitful and wicked,but he can search their hearts and examine their secret motives and give rewards according to what their actions deserve.

Jeremiah trusts in the Lord and tells him that the sinful of Israel will be disgraced and shamed, but Jeremiah knows the Lord can heal him and save him. He has done what is asked and given the people God's message.

Then the Lord told him to go stand at the gates of Jerusalem, first at the gate where the king goes out, then at each of the other gates. Tell the people to listen to the message of the Lord to stop trading at Jerusalem's gates on the Sabbath day. Do not work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. This was one of the Lord's commandments and the people refuse to pay attention. But if the people keep the day holy, then the nation will continue forever. There would always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne in Jerusalem and the city would remain forever. Then all the people would come with burnt offerings and sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the Lord's Temple.

But, says the Lord, if the people do not listen and refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, then he would set fire to the gates and the fire would spread to the palaces and no one could put out the flames.

BIBLE NOTES SHOW: The people during the time of Jeremiah were working on the Sabbath. They considered making money more important than keeping God's law. Over a century later when Nehemiah led the exiles back to Jerusalem, one of his reforms was to reinstitue the Sabbath observation.

HOW DOES THIS CHAPTER RELATE TO US TODAY? There are so many lessons in this small chapter. Here the Lord contrasts those who trust in humans and those who trust in the Lord. Even in today's time, we can see that those who trust in the Lord flourish in times of trouble. Those who trust in human beings, grow spiritually weak during times of trouble and have no strength to draw on. How would you fare in times of trouble? Do you have the strength of the Lord to draw on?

In this chapter, God tells us that our hearts bend toward sin from the time of our birth. In other words, we are human and have those human faults. But he gives us choice and we can choose to be tempted or pray to God to help us resist temptations. I urge you to pray to God on a daily basis for the strength to combat temptation. Remember that Satan and his minions work on us every minute to try to get us to turn to temptation. We must lean on God for strength.

Yours in Christ,
Mary

Prayer Requests are needed for:


HEALTH: Pray for Gabe.

Pray for Arlene’s nephew David and for my neighbor Al who is nearing the end of his life.

Pray for Carolyn’s brother Ronald who has cancer and for her sister Wanda’s soul which went to heaven.

Pray for our friend Michelle who was diagnosed with a form of MS.

Pray for Robert Sargent who is quite ill with lung cancer.

Pray for Gary Summers, my friend from church, who has cancer.

Pray for Judy’s husband who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Pray for her too, that she can deal with the side effects of his illness.

Pray too for Charly’s husband Robert who is undergoing chemo for his prostate cancer. Update on Robert: he has one more treatment and then three months of waiting for his psat test to come back clean.

Pray for James’s sister Cynthia whose chemo has lost its effect as the cancer grows powerful.

SPIRITUAL UPLIFTING: Gail, Mary

RESTORATION OF FAITH: Al, John

LOVE AND SUPPORT: Claire, Hunter, Brian

SUPPORT: Pray for our country’s leaders and our military people who die each day for our freedom. Pray for our famers and those who raise livestock during this terrible drought.