August 8 - Jeremiah 8:4-11:23

Good morning everyone, 

Well, here we are, back to Jeremiah. This guy …..  it is no wonder he was known as the Weeping Prophet. Surely, it had to be hard to watch so many people reject the Lord’s plea to “Come.” To understand the forthcoming consequence of choice and not be able to convince a single soul to turn toward Yahweh.

Today, chapter 10 kind of drew my attention, verse 1 says, “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.”

Remembering, if you will, that it is the Babylonians who are going to come in and ruin the city of Jerusalem, capturing or killing everyone in it. It is these same Babylonians who developed the first organized system of astrology. Now I do not know much about astrology other than I live in one of the most amazing places in the world to see billions upon billions of twinkling stars in the sky on a moonless night or even a night when the moon is out, and I LOVE looking up at it. How incredibly beyond huge it is, never seizes to blow me away and, get this, their is evidence that God continues to expand the heavens, it’s growing. However back in antiquity, they did not have a Hubble and so they were limited to how far they could see. 

What they were able to view in the heavens was identified with the gods of the Babylonian religion. For instance the planet Venus was with the goddess Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, love, war and sex. Mercury was with Nabu, the god of writing and scribes. Jupiter was with Marduk who was associated with water, vegetation, judgment, and magic and those are just a few examples. God was saying, don’t pay attention to that, stay focused on me. 

My daughter has a friend, Renee who has a little four year old boy named Ashton, and as boys will, he has a really active little mind. However, it is Renee’s practice that when you are trying to talk to Ashton she will lovingly remind him, “eye contact son” at which point he will look directly into your eyes and hear you or talk to you, allowing you to know you have his undivided attention. I love, love, love that! And I am so totally convinced that is how we need to live our lives, utterly,  absolutely, unreservedly focused on the Lord. I often can hear Him saying to me, “Honey, yo Pam … eye contact please.” Maybe you sense him calling you? If we would but do that, keep our eyes focused on Jesus and not get sidetracked with the wandering minds of the world, oh how blessed our lives would be. Psalm 119:2 “Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart” 

The Bible is abundantly clear that God is ready to pour out His blessing on His people, but only when we order our lives rightly before Him and seek God Himself as the supreme blessing. I would encourage us all to not learn the ways of the nations but to have eye contact, keeping our eyes on the prize. Amen?

Have a good day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..