LEARNING DAILY

Jeremiah 25:3, From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.

By now you have seen that Iran has fired missiles and drones into Israel. I have thought about this and considered whether or not I should write about this. Yes, I have some thoughts; no, I do not have a word from the Lord to say this a fulfillment of a particular prophecy. I will write again the words of Dr. Ed Newton, “You better stay ready so you don’t have to get ready!”

The prophet Jeremiah had been prophesying for more than twenty years that judgment was coming to Judah for the way the people had been living. He had been telling them if they did not repent from their evil ways and come back to following God, judgment was coming. They heard what he said but did not listen; they had opportunity to hear the truth and repent but did not do so.

The people heard but did not listen! Does this not characterize the days we live in? My prayer is that if you are reading this blog, you are being encouraged to open your Bible to read/study/ meditate on what you read. Please do not read it in a lukewarm, casual, and I can check that off my to do list sort of way. I used to tease people with picking up a book and only looking at the pictures and saying they had read the book. Believers must not have this attitude with God’s Word!

When one opens the Bible, it needs to be read with the idea of how it can be applied to one’s life. Read it with the desire to discover what and how sin can be removed from your life. Do you see the desire the Lord Jesus has to reconcile to God the Father and deliver you from the wrath that is coming. If I read and interpret the Word of God correctly, times are drawing near where this world will see difficult things. Our way of life may be changing quickly. What we see with Iran attacking Israel may be the beginning of great changes. We just do not know. But we must be right in our relationship with the Lord and start to listen and not just hear.

Can I get to the point? As believers, we must have the desire to be made whole or walk with the Lord as He desires. This blog is centered on walking the narrow way after Jesus has saved us. It is a difficult way! Too many want to be saved but walk the broad way. You cannot do that; if you think that, you are fooling yourself! Following Jesus on this narrow way means getting rid of your self-centeredness and living the way He wants us to. If you are living to please yourself, trusting in yourself rather than living for Him and trusting in Him, you are only hearing but not listening.

The people of Jeremiah’s day heard but did not listen. Because they did not listen, they did not change their way of life. They did not believe there would be any consequences for the way they lived. They may have heard the prophet speak and that caused them to think they were okay. The reality of their lives showed they had no faith in God. They lived as if He was nowhere around them. They were wrong! Judgment came.

May this encourage you today. Get into your Bible. Read it/study it/meditate on it, applying it to your life. Allow Jesus and His Word change you, so you are ready for whatever is to come. Stay ready! I plan to spend more time doing just that!