INTERESTING FACTS : "The most important thought that ever occupied my mind is that of my individual responsibility to God." - Daniel Webster

DAILY READING : Jeremiah 14-17

TEXT : Jeremiah 14:10-16 "Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the Lord doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them."

THEME : Sowing and Reaping

"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." [Ecclesiastes 8:11]

The entire process of sowing and reaping is not a fast process. As humans, and Americans particularly, we are used to having things and having them quickly. If our meal isn't given to us in under 2 minutes at the drive through we start fidgeting with impatience, wondering what is taking so long. But God doesn't usually work so fast, and even nature teaches us that sowing and reaping is not a fast process.

A lot of preparation is done to the ground before the sowing even begins. Proper care is given to the soil to rid it of weeds and anything else that would steal the plant's nutrients or the sunlight it needs. Fertilizer is added in order to enrich the soil. Sometimes the soil sits for years, resting to replenish itself before the sowing process begins.

The seeds are planted carefully, and sometimes precisely, and then...waiting. You don't plant the seed and come back the next day and harvest your crop. There's a time period where the plant is cared for and watched over as it grows. With some plants, it could be years before they bear fruit or before the fruit they yield is useful. It is not immediate.

And what you put in the ground is what you will eventually reap. Plant an apple seed and you will eventually reap apples. Oranges beget oranges, etc. etc. This is something we all know well so there is no need to belabor the point. If we are planting good seed into our lives then we should be encouraged that we will eventually reap that seed in our lives (patience, longsuffering, etc).

But the same is true of evil things. If we plant briar seeds, thorns will inevitably come up, though not right away. It may take time before we see the ugliness of the weeds we've sown.

As the verse from Ecclesiastes above states, because the reaping doesn't occur right away, we become emboldened in our sin and continue. Some of us even becoming deceived to the point to think that God either approves of our sin, or has turned His head and winked at it.

When the consequences for our sin are not immediately felt we begin to walk further and further away from God, but please do not be mistaken - if you've sown the seeds you will reap the consequences.

In the verses we will look at today the nation of Israel has done just that. They have lost their love and fear of God and have taken away they restraints they had formerly placed on themselves to keep them fro sin. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and one sin leads to another and to destruction.

And in the end, as we will see, we have no one we can blame but ourselves.

TRUTH FOR TODAY : We Have No One Else to Blame But Ourselves

In today's verses we find the nation of Israel running hard after sin. They were no longer trying to restrain themselves from evil, but freely did whatever pleased them. God pronounces His judgment upon the people and tells Jeremiah not to pray for the welfare of the people - for they will be judged.

God holds them responsible for their actions and says that He will not hear their prayers or accept their sacrifices. Jeremiah feels some pity for the people and tells God how there are false preachers telling them that they will have prosperity. Even though God had pronounced judgment, these prophets were saying that they would no experience hunger or war and that peace was assured. Surely the people couldn't be held fully responsible for their actions as the false prophets were telling them these things.

But though God holds the false prophets responsible for their actions, pronouncing judgment upon them as well, he still holds the people responsible for their actions. In verse 16, in light of the false prophets, God reiterates their judgment against the people. There was no excuse for them - they were responsible for the things they did.

The same is true of us - we have a responsibility before God for ourselves. When we stand before God in judgment, which we all will, we will have no one to blame foe our behavior. We can't blame the preacher on TV who preached a false or perverted gospel. We can't blame our pastor who refused to tell the whole gospel. We can't blame the Christian books we read that only spoke of soft things and spoke of peach and safety when God spoke of judgement.

We have a personal responsibility for our actions. We are each responsible for searching the Scriptures to know the good from the evil, to know the true character of God.

Today, let's pray that God would keep us from being lazy Christians, relying only on what others tell us about God, when He has given us a book whereby we may know Him.