Inside Out Living

The readings for this week will deal with Israel in exile. While there are still some who remain in Jerusalem, the main shift of the Scriptures has been on those who are living in exile in Babylon. Particularly we see this in Ezekiel, whose ministry was directly to God’s people living in exile. Because they were dark days for God’s people, both those left in Jerusalem and those in exile, there is a recurring theme of hope that we will be looking at this week.

Today's Devotional:

The days in which Jeremiah ministered were certainly dark days. Judah as a nation was falling apart and God’s covenant people, the Israelites, had essentially abandoned God at this point. However, as you read today, because of God’s faithfulness there is still hope.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 delivers the promise of a new covenant. It is the covenant that Jesus spoke of during the last supper (Matt. 26:28). It is the covenant that was sealed with the shed blood of Christ. And it is this passage from Jeremiah that was quoted by the author of Hebrews as he contrasted the new and the old covenants (Heb. 8:8-12)

It is a better covenant (Heb. 8:6) because it involves an internal change. Instead of being focused on external obedience and works, Jeremiah says that God will write His word on their hearts. We, as members of this new and better covenant, have the word of God emblazoned on our hearts through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

It was this promise of a future covenant that gave hope to the faithful few in Jeremiah’s day and it continues to give us hope as well.

I want you to think of that one person or that particular group of people that you know for certain deserves God’s judgment.

For God’s people that would have been the surrounding nations against whom Amos declared God’s judgment. How popular Amos’ message must have been as he spoke of the very thing God’s people wanted to hear. And then that all changed as God turned His focus toward His own people declaring judgment against their wickedness.

Through Amos, Israel and Judah learned that you cannot pray for God’s judgment on sin and not be included in the process. This is because God does not show favoritism in his judgments (Rom. 2:11).

So why are we to fear God? We do not fear God because He is some kind of vindictive or cruel deity. Rather, we fear him because He is just in His judgments and cannot allow sin to go unpunished.

Faith in Christ does not spare us from God’s judgment, for all men will be judged (Matt. 16:27). But our faith allows us to be declared righteous because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice in spite of our being judged guilty.

"Have no fear, have no fear, said the cat in the hat.” I read that line today at lunch in the book I was reading to my daughter. As I was reading it, I thought about our theme this week and the subsequent mess that the cat in the hat made. Fortunately for the children in the story, the cat cleaned up his mess, but life doesn’t always play out like a Dr. Seuss book.

Today we read about more kings over God’s people that made one mess after the other. The idolatry they allowed showed a total lack of fear towards the LORD. What do we see as a result of this lack of fear? We see the consequence of incurring God’s judgment. Both Joash, king of Judah (2 Chr. 24:24), and Jehoahaz, king of Israel (2 Kings 13:2-3), invited God’s judgment on their people because they didn’t fear God and practiced idolatry.

So why should we fear God? We fear God because He is the one who judges our actions (Eccl. 12:13-14). We fear God because of the consequences that result when our actions invite His judgment.

We have been thinking some this week about the connection between obediently following God and living a simple life. While it is true that our own sin often complicates life, it is not the only reason why life can be difficult and complicated. It is no small thing to live a simple life that results from making wise choices.

Sometimes life is difficult, not because of any fault of our own, but because of the decisions of those around us. In 1 Kings 15 we read of two different kings of Judah, Abijam and Asa. One of them, Abijam, was not right with God; the other, Asa, remained faithful to the LORD throughout his life. In spite of this difference we read that both of these kings dealt with constant wars with Israel during their reigns. So even though he walked with God, Asa experienced the same political difficulties as Abijam. In fact, when you think about it, doing what is right and walking with God can sometimes make life more complicated, not simpler.

May you have the courage to walk with God regardless of how difficult life may become.