Month: March 2019

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.” Jeremiah 17:7 (Jeremiah 13-17)

The people of Judah, in the face of false, but comforting, prophecy, seek a second opinion and wish to silence Jeremiah’s inconvenient truth. Still reeling from the threat to his life, Jeremiah questions himself, his message and his authenticity.  He receives a very clear response! God gives this faithful servant two tangible examples of what is to come for those who reject his message. One is the linen belt, or loincloth, (Chapter 13) which would have been bejeweled with elaborate stones and was a sign of Jeremiah’s position.  God gave instructions to place it in a crevice (see post script for Jeremiah’s grotto) where it became ruined. Jeremiah was then instructed to wear it as an example of God’s beloved and glorious people becoming nothing because of their sin and self-imposed separation from God.

Although Jeremiah is reassured, his plight does not improve. In fact, God says, don’t go to funerals or celebrations and do not marry.  These things are the normal milestones of life, but to invest in them is to say, “All is well.” This is no time and place to start a family. Those who turned to false gods will rely on the work of their hands, but it is futile, all hope is gone because no one is seeking salvation and life is about to get real ugly.

In the middle of God’s declaration of doom are words of encouragement for those who remain faithful. Obedience is faith, faith is confidence in God, even when there is drought and you are thirsty too.

Hang in there!

Gretchen

P.S. The crevice, or cave, Jeremiah placed the linen cloth in was one of several hiding retreats he fled to when grief overwhelmed him.  In these moments, Jeremiah spoke with God, heard from his LORD, gained new perspective and returned to urgent prayer and action for his fellow Judeans. This particular place has been found at the base of Golgotha, the site of Love’s greatest sacrifice. It is fitting that Jeremiah sacrificed his own will for the hope of the unrepentant. By the way, I don’t believe in coincidence. 

A 1950 Studebaker pickup truck has come to live at my house.  It is in the good company of some other similar projects. We have a menagerie of antique tractors, cars and various other motorized tools and thing-a-ma-gotch-its. It isn’t a lack of interest in new innovations that brings these things to my door. Keith has a great interest in better ways to move about, but for the old, they all have a story that makes him smile. While the work is being done, he will ponder things past and present, friends will drop by, and Keith will smile….. a lot.

Keith has searched the world over for a truck such as this. He claims, and my ignorance on the subject cannot dispute, that Studebaker’s ingenuity was way beyond its time. But specifically, his mother had an ole’ truck just like the one we now own. Because I am a story teller, I’ve tried to draw out, why this vehicle? She owned many others he has no interest in. His answer was simple. “When Steve and I were little, mom got the truck stuck on ice.” That is all. When our truck came into the yard on the trailer, little brother said, “Hey, do you remember when mom got that old truck stuck on the ice?” In the late 1960’s, a young mother got out on an icy cold morning to go get the babysitter and got hung in a valley between two tiny hills, on an old country road. She couldn’t go forward, she couldn’t move back, so there they sat and it made quite an impression on her two young sons.

My inquires to her state of mind and the eventual rescue have been answered with blank stares and shrugged shoulders. For two little boys, stuck on the ice with mom is story enough. It begins and ends there. But my mind won’t let it rest, so I’m going to insert what I know.  IF she had ranted, raved and cussed every living being and God Himself, Keith and Steve would have remembered. Children are fascinated by emotion, it would have stuck. The presence of panic or despair would have frightened two impressionable boys and they wouldn’t have forgotten. They were totally unaware of anything but the delightful spin of tires. Beverly had an incredible work ethic in both motherhood and her career as a nurse. That day, she could have stayed home, but her family needed the income and waiting patients needed her skill and care, so she went, and got stuck.

As I’ve tried to understand the story that has brought a grin to my husband’s face all week, I remember that Beverly was brave, strong and a fierce advocate for her children, but she took it a step further. She was an advocate for all children, and in order to help them, she helped their families in tireless ways.  Her garden produced more than she and hers would ever eat. She had extra plates at the table and plenty of blankets to warm the cold. I asked her one time why she bothered. Her quick answer redirected my attitude and behavior for always, “When I get to Heaven’s door, God won’t ask how everyone treated me down here. He will only be interested in how I loved.”

Two little boys, one truck and a dozen moments in time have brought reason to be joyful years later. When crisis arises, be okay. Someone is watching and learning, and they need to see your strength, and faith in action. When someone is in need, help. You can’t take it with you and Jesus is watching. When you don’t know what to do, be good and kind……and just maybe, 50 years later, someone will smile when they remember.

Love,

Gretchen

You are always righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? Jeremiah 12:1 (Jeremiah 11 & 12)

The covenant between God and Moses/the Hebrew children defined righteousness, promised blessings, stated consequences and set God’s chosen nation apart from the rest of the world and quested them to carry out His blessing to all the earth.  Israel’s failure was colossal but God did not quit loving. He is was long suffering and sent Jeremiah with a message to repentance and a warning of dire punishment that would come to those who refuse.

Jeremiah’s message was so harsh and persistent that the people of his hometown plotted to kill him.  God intervened and he escaped, but his fear gave way to anger and he lashed out at God. “Why do the wicked prosper?”  Jeremiah wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last to ask this question. God responded with hope. The day of the LORD will come. For the believer there will be eternal glory, for all those who have rejected God or oppressed the faithful, they will be wiped off the face of the earth…..in God’s time.

God’s purpose is first and foremost, salvation, redemption and restoration. Final judgement is His last option. His Son, Jesus, is the highest model of righteous servitude in our relationships with each other, but to the people of Judah, God waited and waited in the hope of humble confession and redirection. He modeled patient love.

Do not wish judgment on anyone. Just love and let God be God.

Love,

Gretchen

  

If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. Jeremiah 7:5-7 (Jeremiah 7-10)

Repentance and obedience are game changers!

The people of Judah were stubborn to the very end, but they had a strong superstition about the temple of God.  Although they had many false gods, they still offered sacrifices and practiced a weak semblance of worship. Jeremiah’s message insisted this was not Holy or pleasing and would bring judgement.  The false prophets of the day were smooth talkers seeking their own comfort.  They preached peace and pointed to Jeremiah as an alarmist. He was not.

Oddly, as things worsened for Judah, there was a boom in the idol making industry. God created the trees these worthless gods were carved from. The miracle of His creative power made the gold that gilded them. Jeremiah and God both grieved for this unrepentant nation who chose ridiculous, empty securities.

It was not God’s desire to destroy. He is a kind and loving God that brings new life to those who ask.  Repentance and obedience change everything.

Love,

Gretchen

This is what the LORD says:  “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, “We will not walk in it.” Jeremiah 6:16 (Jeremiah 5 & 6)

This flat out refusal to follow God’s law left the Creator of all things with no choice but to judge and punish. The depravity of these people was universal and they were ecstatically content with their self authority.  Jeremiah compares them to animals who eat with no regard for other’s need and who breed out of random opportunity and lust rather than love and choice. Ignorance will exempt no one when the armies of Babylon do their worst, everyone will perish of be taken captive.

Some of the people attempted empty, elaborate offerings, to appease The One True God in the same manner that they paid homage to their idols. God was quick to respond: Offerings mean nothing without a repentant heart, a humble attitude and a determination to walk in the Good Way.

That rest for the soul is what it’s all about! Peace in the present and future is an option I like!

Love,

Gretchen

My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the Spring of Living Water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:13 (Jeremiah 2-4)

Jeremiah was called to take on the moral leadership of a depraved people. Who wants that job? One on going crisis was the tendency to listen to the most optimistic prediction. The spiritual revival of Josiah had brought some semblance of peace, but not thoroughly enough to change the hearts of all. False prophets assured the people that this was a lasting peace disparaging the words of Jeremiah, who had been given a vision of the nation’s collapse at the hands of Babylon.

Judah had forgotten why destruction came to their brothers to the north, as they repeat their sins of idolatry and refuse to repent. God asks over and over why they forsake Him, it makes NO sense. A well of Life has sprung before them, but they go and dig their own cisterns that fill with polluted, unhealthy and dangerous water. Even as they thirst, a Life spring is available, but they will not drink from it! Crazy!

We subconsciously focus on the words of gloom and doom, but they are not this. God’s call, over and over, is for repentance.  God’s desire is to save, redeem and rescue, restore and protect.  That sounds like the deal of a life time! Why will people not turn from their wicked ways? I do not know, but God has not given up loving each of us. He created us to love and He sent His Son to prove and seal that indestructible love.

Love,

Gretchen

I will pronounce My judgements on My people because of their wickedness in forsaking Me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made. Jeremiah 1:16 (Jeremiah 1)

A contemporary of Zephaniah, Jeremiah was a country boy and son of a priest when God called him to be His spokesperson. He is known for being a reluctant and weeping prophet. He was so much more!

Jeremiah wan an engaged observer of nature, finding the wonder of God in things all around him. He felt under qualified to answer God’s beckoning, and fought his entire life with doubt and fear. Amidst his personal turmoil, there is faithfulness and an encounter with God that left this man forever changed. In spite of being labeled a traitor for encouraging submission to Babylon, seeing his personal writings burned in protest, knowing a constant threat to his life and being exiled to Egypt, Jeremiah stayed on message. 

The people of Jerusalem once again returned to their attitude of entitlement, believing their city invincible, no matter their behavior. They were wrong. Still today there are those who believe God will just leave them alone, ignore their actions and exempt them from judgement because the refuse to engage in spiritual things. It is agreed that good people will indeed see Heaven, but those who chose to disbelieve or live on a greater, enlightened plane, will just cease to exist or become a positive energy to encourage and inspire those they leave behind. It wasn’t true for the people of 600 BC and it isn’t true today.  God sent someone to a message of salvation and rescue. He is sending that same someone today. God takes His message VERY seriously, and so should we!  Heaven is for real!

Love,

Gretchen

Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine. Zephaniah 1:13 (Zephaniah 1-3)

Young king Josiah struggled to lead his nation spiritually. God sent Zephaniah, a distant relative, to deliver His message of judgement against immorality, injustice and pagan idolatry. Zephaniah made a rare difference. In partnership with the adolescent king, Judah did restore the temple and correct worship.  A factor in this renewal of obedience and worship was the prophecy of Nineveh’s demise that came to pass. But two world powers were waging a war for dominance, Babylon and Egypt, and tiny Judah was setting in the crosshairs. The Day of the Lord was coming!

The Day of the Lord sounds like something to anxiously await, and well it should be…..for the faithful. But for those who refused to listen and heed, this is a time of separation. God was preparing to set apart a faithful remnant for salvation, and the rest for the destruction they have brought by their rejection of God’s love and protection. Indeed, a small group of David’s house survived and from them, a new covenant was born.

I always try to give verses of hope and inspiration, but by this time in the history of God’s people, they looked for more excuses to keep their ridiculous, handmade gods, rather than offer single minded subjection to God. Zephaniah tells of a coming theology, correct and indisputable, that will explain God’s purpose and love without room for misinterpretation. A new language would be spoken (3:9) and every tribe and nation will raise their voices in perfect praise to the One True God. Jesus was just a few centuries away and He would bring a new language of service and love, grace and mercy.

You really, really, really can’t take it with you, but what is waiting is incomprehensible, either to the good or bad.  Choose wisely, and in a world headed in the wrong direction, be the remnant, with a light to show the Way.

Love,

Gretchen

In the spring of 2001 my 6 year old made a request.  As the school year wound down, our thoughts began to revolve around delivering new school buses across the United States.  We had some say in our choice of destination, so we encouraged the girls to dream of places yet unseen.  Melissa, having just completed first grade with an awakening to American History said, “I want to see the Statue of Liberty. She is a symbol of America’s freedom.” The first opportunity to head east was taken.  Our buses went to Philadelphia. We stayed the night in a hotel and got up at daylight on July 3 headed toward Jersey City, New Jersey. 

The girls quickly returned to slumber as the miles ticked by. Keith and I were marveling at the city scenes, so foreign to us, when we saw a torch in the skyline, reaching toward Heaven. We weren’t sure it was the real deal, so we waited a few more miles. As New York Harbor’s pride and joy grew larger we woke our sleeping beauties.  They were big eyed and totally awed by the magnificence of Lady Liberty shining in the early morning’s sunlight.

A few more miles and we parked our car, bought tickets and ferried to Liberty Island.  As we walked and read the historical markers, our minds were broadened to a greater understanding of those that came before us.  We returned to the ferry and continued to Ellis Island, the famous entry point of America for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. 

This historical landmark, this national monument, is beautifully staged so as you walk through the grand entrance, you step back in time and feel the reality of those that came to our nation seeking a better tomorrow.  It wasn’t pretty.  I became shaken, heart broken, and humbled.

There was a mock unloading of cargo and a train depot with many confusing terminals.  I viewed the place where people lined up waiting to be vetted for disease, criminal history, and financial prospects. Families were regularly separated by decisions far beyond their control, often by agents with a less than ethical agenda.  It wasn’t the welcome wagon or the Red Cross waiting on the docks.  It was a crowded city full of people questioning other’s rights to share in prosperity. 

The general demographic of those who crossed the ocean were men of other languages and cultures seeking financial stability so they could send home for their wives and children, or wives and children coming to find husbands and fathers they hadn’t heard from in months.  I recognized a common thread of lives so void of hope that a desperate gamble for a better future seemed like the only option.

In the back of the museum there is an American flag, a hologram made from likenesses of the past.  As I gazed upon it I realized I’m not brave. Destiny hasn’t ask of me what it asked of them.  I gripped the hands of my children, I bowed my head in gratitude for the Christ that paid the ultimate price for my eternal freedom, and thanked Him for these men and women who played a part in creating the blessings I enjoy.

This is how we know what love is;  Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  I John 3:16

The good I enjoy exists because of someone else’s contribution, and in turn, the hope and freedom of future generations rests with me, and you. Rise to the challenge, be a blessing, or maybe the answer to their prayer.

Love,

Gretchen

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did-with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. II Kings 23:25 (II Kings 21&22, II Chronicles 33-35)

With Manasseh’s death, his son Amon came to the throne. Amon was a wicked king and was assassinated in the second year of his reign. Josiah, an eight year old child, became king of Judah. By the time Josiah was an adolescent he was seeking the God of his father David and soon began sweeping reforms including the demolition of ALL places and objects of pagan worship.  A measure of true repentance among the people followed, but it was too little and too late to turn the tide of Judah’s fate.

During the restoration/renovation of the temple, a book of law was found. Josiah read this book, led the people in returning to the Law God gave Moses, but was also stricken by the warnings of consequences for sin. The apex of Josiah’s leadership was the return to the practice and celebration of Passover and a purposeful remembering of what God had done in the lives of His people.

This grandson of Manasseh had the opportunity to watch and compare the success of his grandfather, who had a late in life conversion, and his father, who died as a result of corruption and unchecked evil. He chose the God that forgave and lent His strength to those who trusted. Josiah is noted as one of Judah’s greatest kings, not for lands conquered or vaults filled with gold, but because He chose, with all his mind, heart and soul, to honor and worship the One True God.  A little bit of faith, goes a really long way!

Love,

Gretchen