Category: More Than Bread

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JEREMIAH 23:21-25:38 | 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-17 | PSALM 84:1-12 | PROVERBS 25:15

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Jeremiah is the prophet with the calling to deliver the message from the Lord, yet it seems that of late, there have been many others who have claimed the same calling.  But God is not impressed. 

To these false prophets, this is what the Lord says:  ³⁰ “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. ³¹ Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’ ³² Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah is the chosen one to be the prophet of the people, and soon Jeremiah has a vision of two baskets of figs—one gone bad, and the other still good. 

This is the interpretation to that vision, as Jeremiah conveys it from the word of the Lord:  ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. ⁶ My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. ⁷ I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. 

Jeremiah goes on to predict the fall of Judah and the seventy years of captivity at the hands of the kings of Babylon.  It is to be seen what else Jeremiah might have to prophesy about before he is finished with the children of Israel.

Turning now to our reading of Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, we find Paul also making similar warnings regarding being wary of false prophets and prophecies.  He speaks of a “man of lawlessness” which is more than likely a reference to the end times. 

Paul says this to his readers:  ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, ¹⁰ and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Paul writes to this group of believers in Thessalonica to encourage them in their newly-found faith in Christ. 

He says to them:  ¹⁵ So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. ¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Turning now to our Psalm for the day, we find the Psalmist waxing eloquent about the joys of being in the house of the Lord.  Would that we might also always share in this sentiment!  The Psalmist writes:

¹⁰ Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.

 ¹² LORD Almighty,
blessed is the one who trusts in you.

Finally, a brilliant verse from the book of Proverbs, worthy of record and rumination:

¹⁵ Through patience a ruler can be persuaded,
and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.  Amen.

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JEREMIAH 22:1-23:20 | 2 THESSALONIANS 1:1-12 | PSALM 83:1-18 | PROVERBS 25:11-14

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Jeremiah has been instructed to warn the children of Israel about their ill-doings, and he is carrying out his mission.  This is what he tells the king of Judah:

³ Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. ⁵ But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”

Later, Jeremiah goes on to predict the coming of the Messiah in these lines:

⁵ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
⁶ In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The LORD Our Righteous Savior.

But Jeremiah is apparently not the only prophet in town.  There are others evidently, who are offering up prophecies, and nicer ones at that. And to this, Jeremiah says:

“Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you;
they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds,
not from the mouth of the LORD.
¹⁷ They keep saying to those who despise me,
‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts
they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’

Turning now to our reading of the New Testament, we commence another epistle by Paul.  This is the second letter to the church at Thessalonica, today a city in modern Greece.  This is one of the earliest churches that Paul had established as a result of his missionary travels, and these are some of his earliest recorded letters. 

Paul says to them so affectionately:  ³ We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.

Paul goes on to comfort them on their newly-found faith in Christ.  His words might have been in response to the opposition that they might have been facing. 

Paul says to them:  ⁶ God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷ and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might ¹⁰ on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

Paul’s prayer and hope for his fellow-brethren is a fervent one, and one that we ought to have one for another. 

Paul says to them:  ¹¹ With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. ¹² We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turning now to our Psalm for the day, we find another one by Asaph, the Psalmist, who so very plaintively and humbly beseeches God for help on behalf of his people.  He says:

¹ O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.

Finally, a few proverbs from Solomon, wise king of Israel, who was also a consummate poet.  The poetry in these lines is so graphic, that beyond the deep meaning of the sayings, they are beautiful in the images that they conjure up in the mind’s eye.  Solomon writes:

¹¹ Like apples of gold in settings of silver
is a ruling rightly given.
¹² Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold
is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.

 ¹³ Like a snow-cooled drink at harvest time
is a trustworthy messenger to the one who sends him;
he refreshes the spirit of his master.
¹⁴ Like clouds and wind without rain
is one who boasts of gifts never given.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.  Amen.

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JEREMIAH 14:11-16:15 | 1 THESSALONIANS 2:9-3:13 | PSALM 80:1-19 | PROVERBS 25:1-5

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Jeremiah’s prophecies are not pleasant ones; for the most part, they speak to the wrath of God that is to come upon the children of Israel.  But when he is not being a mouthpiece to the Lord, Jeremiah’s pleads for his people as well.  And this is what the Lord says in response:

“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
²⁰ I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”
declares the LORD.
²¹ “I will save you from the hands of the wicked
and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”

And in line with this, this is also what the Lord promises to Israel, as per Jeremiah’s account: ¹⁴ “However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ ¹⁵ but it will be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.

This is a promise to hold on to, wouldn’t you say?

Turning next to our reading of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we find Paul commending his readers—new members of the Christian faith, mostly non-Jews—for their great faith in the word of the Lord as it has been preached to them by Paul and his colleagues. 

Paul mentions here the damage that his Jewish brethren have attempted to do by way of discouraging the new believers.

He says:  ¹⁴ For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews ¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone ¹⁶ in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. 

Does this not have shades of the same sentiment that we see in Jeremiah’s words where God’s wrath is inevitable at times?

The church in Thessalonica is dear to Paul, and he speaks affectionately of them, and to them.  He says:  ¹⁹ For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? ²⁰ Indeed, you are our glory and joy. 

And he ends this part of the letter with these loving words of encouragement:  ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ¹² May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

Turning now to our Psalm for the day, we find another one authored by Asaph.  There is a haunting refrain throughout the psalm which speaks to the great petition of the people of Israel.  The Psalmist says:

¹⁹ Restore us, LORD God Almighty;
   make your face shine on us,
   that we may be saved.

Finally, a couple of verses from the book of Proverbs, authored by Solomon, the wise king of Israel:

⁴ Remove the dross from the silver,
and a silversmith can produce a vessel;

⁵ remove wicked officials from the king’s presence,
and his throne will be established through righteousness.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.  Amen.

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JEREMIAH 12:1-14:10 | 1 THESSALONIANS 1:1-2:8 | PSALM 79:1-13 | PROVERBS 24:30-34

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Jeremiah is the unwilling prophet who took up his commission with some reservations, but once he got started, there was no stopping him! 

Every so often, however, he does pause to reflect and make note of his own thoughts.  This is one such time.  He has a complaint that is as old as the hills, and asks this of the Lord:

Why do all the faithless live at ease?
² You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.

And if you think the ways of the Lord are mysterious, you are not alone.  There is further indication of the unknowable ways and purposes of the Lord concerning the people of Israel. 

As proclaimed by Jeremiah, this is what the Lord says concerning Israel:  ¹⁴ …“As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. ¹⁶ And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. ¹⁷ But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it.”

But these are a stubborn people who have turned their heads and hearts away from the Lord, and it is a sad day for Jeremiah to have said these words:  ”Woe to you, Jerusalem!  How long will you be unclean?” 

And so Jeremiah says this about his people:

“They greatly love to wander;
they do not restrain their feet.
So the LORD does not accept them;
he will now remember their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.”

Jeremiah’s prophecies will come to pass, as we well know.  Forgiveness and redemption will follow much later.

We turn now to our reading in the New Testament, and find that we are embarking on a new book today which is essentially the first epistle or letter that Paul has written to the church in Thessalonica, a town in modern Greece.  This book is commonly known as First Thessalonians, and is considered to be one of the first of Paul’s such letters that comprises his writings in the New Testament—written around the year 52 A.D. 

During the course of his missionary travels, Paul has planted many such churches which are essentially groups of believers of the new Christian faith, and Paul is faithful to keep in touch with them via letters that encourage, teach, admonish, and inform. 

Paul says to his readers:  ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷ And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere.

Speaking of his initial ministry among them who were predominantly Gentile, i.e., non-Jews, Paul reminds them of his motives and methods.  He says:  ² We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. ³ For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.  ⁴ On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. ⁵ You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. ⁶ We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority.

Turning now to our reading of the Psalms, we find one authored by a Psalmist by the name of Asaph.  The contrite tone and words of this man are not dissimilar to the prophet Jeremiah from several hundred years earlier.  This Psalmist says:

⁸ Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.
⁹ Help us, God our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name’s sake.
¹⁰ Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”

   Before our eyes, make known among the nations
that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
¹¹ May the groans of the prisoners come before you;
with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
¹² Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times
the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.
¹³ Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise.

Finally, a few verses from the book of Proverbs in which Solomon, the wise king of Israel, is speaking to the evils of slothfulness by way of sharing these observations:

³² I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:
³³ A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
³⁴ and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.  Amen.

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JEREMIAH 8:8-9:26 | COLOSSIANS 3:1-17 | PSALM 78:32-55 | PROVERBS 24:27

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Jeremiah is prophesying about the future of the children of Israel.  He is the Lord’s mouthpiece, and this is what the Lord has to say:

⁸ Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors,
but in their hearts they set traps for them.
⁹ Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?”

The patience of the Lord has worn thin, and this is the proclamation that is made against the children of Israel.  Actions have consequences—both expected and unexpected.  And for now, there is a very direct causal effect to the nature of these prophecies. 

Jeremiah tells the people this:  ¹³ The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. ¹⁴ Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” ¹⁵ Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. ¹⁶ I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”

Furthermore, there is a clear declaration on what is right and what is not, and most importantly, there is a distinction made about the significance of the letter of the law as opposed to the spirit of the law. 

Despite observing the prescribed practices of circumcision and such, the Lord God Almighty is not pleased—because the circumcision of the flesh in and of itself is meaningless without the circumcision of the heart—a matter that is a little more detailed and involved unlike the former which is merely superficial. 

Certainly something to think about, wouldn’t you say?  Jeremiah says:

²³ This is what the LORD says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
²⁴ but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the LORD.

Turning now to our reading of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we find Paul detailing the life of the Christian. 

He tells them:  ¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 

He goes on to get even more specific about what this kind of a lifestyle might look like, and loses no opportunity to state that faith in Jesus Christ is something that is free and available to one and all– and that there is no difference between the Jew and non-Jew. 

He says:  ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Paul sets a high bar for the Christian life.  Would that we were to read these following few verses every single day in order to remind us of how we ought to live. 

Paul says this:  ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

It is as if each and every word in this letter is of so great a value, that I cannot bear to leave out anything!  Paul’s final words in this chapter are as follows—these are words that we might wish to say one to another even in this modern day and age.

Paul says:  ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Turning now to our psalm for the day, we find one in which the psalmist is recounting the many wonders of the Lord over the course of many generations.  It is a historical account of the people that has had a checkered history with their God.  And yet, despite the lack of love and loyalty, this is a God that stood by them and delivered them, and eventually made them a nation and gave them a home. 

This is what the psalmist says of his people:

³⁷ Their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.

Finally, one verse from the book of Proverbs in which Solomon, the wise king of Israel, is speaking to the importance of good planning in all of one’s affairs:

²⁷ Put your outdoor work in order
and get your fields ready;
after that, build your house.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.  Amen.