About a year and half ago, I was reading in Jeremiah and wrote this piece. In light of his speach on Saturday, I thought it was worth posting again.
Jeremiah 5
Reading Jeremiah reminds me a little of listening to Glenn Beck.
Jer. 5:12, 13 They have lied about the Lord; they said, ‘He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them.’
Jer. 5:24, 25 They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God who gives us spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’ Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
Jer. 5:31 The prophets prophecy lies and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
I’m convinced the saddest part for God, in His reaching the point that judgment becomes necessary, is His understanding of the good of which our sins have deprived us. Even when we just fall a little short, we sometimes think God is just waiting to hammer us; nothing could be further from the truth.
Blatant disregard was the case here, not shortcomings. Shortcomings will not bring God’s judgment, but they can keep us from His good. As it takes blatant disregard to bring judgment, I believe it takes blatant (brazenly obvious) regard to experience the good He has planned for our lives.
There is a middle of the road limbo where we do neither. We may not go wholly after our sinful cravings, but neither do we go wholly after God. We neither enjoy the pleasures of sin nor God’s goodness. It is a most unfortunate place to be.
God is not waiting to hammer us for our wrongs, He is longing for us to experience the good He has for us. Help me oh Lord to not be distracted that I might go wholly after You, for only then will I experience the good You have planned for me.
Hunger and Thirst 
I was waiting for this and you didn’t disappoint. 🙂 I am praying and paying attention to what you have written . . .about the limbo place or going wholly after Him. Meaning I have to set aside distractions. For me these last few days, it has been distracting thoughts about painful things . . .wrongs being done to me. But He has good for me when I give myself wholly to Him and stay there. 🙂 God bless you and your ministry to us. He is using you in my life.
Sorry for the difficulty. Our enemy is the source. He works through those who let him. Before I get to heaven, where he will no longer be, I hope to make him regret that he has caused me and my family so much trouble. I’ll add you to the group. Jail ministry tonight. I hope to rescue a few of his captives.
“God is not waiting to hammer us for our wrongs, He is longing for us to experience the good He has for us. Help me oh Lord to not be distracted that I might go wholly after You, for only then will I experience the good You have planned for me.”
May it be so Mike, but I would not choose Glen Beck as a role model, there is a fundamental difference between the reasons Jeremiah said and wrote what he did and the reasons which Glen beck has for his actions.
On the one hand, Jeremiah was speaking what the Lord told him to. These messages from God were so unpopular that he was imprisoned and the king was considering putting him to death. At one point he was practically begging God to give him a pass so that he did not have to convey so much bad news, also his messages which so many folks at the time considered to be bad news were 100% dead on.
Glen Beck on the other hand is trying to build a political consensus. The things he has to say are popular with at least one third of American voters, and furthermore since Mr. Beck is a Mormon the things he says about God may not be according to our own understanding of the nature of God, and the graciousness of God, unless Mr. Beck is being disingenuous, and just telling evangelicals what they want to hear.
Mormons are very legalistic, they have a completely different notion of what God is like and where He came from. So in regard to what Mr. Beck has to say about calling the nation back to it’s Godly roots, I don’t think it is a stretch to say that he does not know what he is talking about. There were no Mormons present during the Revolutionary War and their beliefs would have seemed quite foreign to the founding fathers.
Nathan,
I wrote that a year and a half ago. Litterally as I was reading Jeremiah, I began to hear Beck say things that were similar. As far as him being Mormon . . . I think of myself. In spite of all I believed, God chose to grip my life. He has brought me into a relationship with Him. I sense God has done the same with Glenn. At least in my opinion, he, like all of us, is trying to figure out what to do in response to that grip. Time will tell.
Mike
Yay Jesus! Praying for you as you go! How amazing He is to set people free in prison! Only God! 🙂
Last week on the way to the jail I had a thought. I mentioned it to the guy I go with. The bars may be able to keep the guys in, but they can’t keep God out. And they haven’t. Out of last nights group of about 12, at least half have daily Bible study. They pray together and encourage each other. Sometimes, as last night, our time with them is just additional encouragement. But I am believing for more.
The piece I wrote that I said was longer than normal ended up even longer. As long as I still feel okay with it, I’ll post it next Wednesday. It and the one after in particular, is all about the more that I am believing for.
One of the guys asked about the book last night, so I talked a little about it and told them of your part in it. They thought that was cool. With the rotation, it might be 5 weeks before I get back to that group.
All for now,
Mike
Mike, I never meant to say that a Mormon cannot come to know the Lord, but having said that, it also must be said that the system of the Mormon Church actively works against the acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord.
About fifteen or so years ago there was a respected and prominently placed leader in the LDS church who studied who Jesus was and what He did, for his own edification, when this leader recommended that the LDS organization put more emphasis on the Lordship of Jesus, the Church hierarchy told him more or less to shut up or leave. This particular fellow had a great position and much to lose, so he shut up. I can only imagine the struggles this man had in his heart, and I suppose to be true to his conscience he would have had to leave eventually.
I am sorry that this story is so anecdotal, I heard it from an ex-member and I am not even sure that the names he gave were real (to protect the innocent, so to speak).
I know that you don’t have to go to an non-mainstream church to find bad teaching, or lousy leadership. While I grieve for people who have been led astray, I cannot in good conscience represent the LDS organization to anyone as a mainstream Christian group.
Now it might be my innate disbelief that political hacks can ever be genuine, and I will rejoice if there is ample evidence that Mr. Beck truly knows Jesus, but I will never look up to him as a leader, never.
Politically I am a subject of the King, and frankly, I have my hands full just following Him.
Yeah, I would never recommend that anyone check out the Morman church, but I am always glad to see anyone from any walk of life who has been called out – singled out – and gripped by God. It at least seems that that is what has happened with Glen.
Mike, What a great reminder: “God is not waiting to hammer us for our wrongs, He is longing for us to experience the good He has for us.” What an awesome and merciful God we serve! Peace, Linda
That He is. Thanks for stopping by.