Grace 809

Our reading today is Jeremiah 42-46, and I’m calling the episode “But You Promised.”

Have you ever made a bargain with God? You’ve been in trouble or in some other hard place, and you said, “Lord, help me here and I will never sin again! I’ll devote my life to you!” And then the trouble passes, and you go right back to your old ways. Yeah. Most of us probably have done that, and let me say that it’s not a good thing to do. We may forget, but God doesn’t. Thankfully, God understands our foolishness and we have forgiveness in Jesus, but making a promise to God is still a serious thing. My suggestion is that you take your promises very, very seriously.

In chapter 42 the people came to Jeremiah and said, “Please pray to the Lord your God for us. Pray that the Lord your God will show us what to do and where to go. Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord your God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us.” So they made a promise that they would do whatever God told them to do, didn’t they? Let’s see how they followed through on their promise.

But first, did you notice that in the first sentence, they said to Jeremiah, “…pray to the Lord YOUR God”? Isn’t that interesting? These were *supposed* to be God’s chosen people, and yet they didn’t say “pray to the Lord OUR God.” But when Jeremiah replied to them, he reminded them of this when he said, ”All right, I will pray to the Lord your God, as you have asked…” 

Beloved, either He is our God or He isn’t. Either we follow Him or we don’t. Sure, we are weak and we fail, but if we are His, when we fall we get back up and, with His help, we try again.

But that’s not what these people did in chapter 42. You heard what happened. They did NOT keep their promise to do whatever God told them to do. God told them to stay there in Babylon and not go to Egypt. He told them that he would bless them if they stayed and bring disaster on them if they went. 

They said in essence, “Yeah. No. We’re going to Egypt. We don’t care what you tell us to do.”

So they told it like it was when they referred to God as “the Lord YOUR God”, didn’t they? They had no intention of listening if what He said was not what they wanted to hear. 

But God did keep his promise, and disaster came down on them. 

Let’s not play games with God. Let’s understand that He truly does want to bless us, and let’s do our best to please Him so that He can. 

Don’t you sometimes wonder why God allows evil people to continue in their evil for so long? Doesn’t it sometimes seem like God isn’t even paying attention to what’s going on? 

Well, of course He’s paying attention, and yes, He will bring justice. But as we have seen as we’ve been reading through Jeremiah, God sometimes uses bad people to do His will. Now, please DO NOT misunderstand me. I am not saying that God always causes evil people to do the things they do. Far from it. Most of the time, evil people do evil because they are evil. But sometimes, *sometimes* God brings punishment on those He loves through evil people, to bring those He loves back into relationship with H

Becky Harling reminds us to focus on others when we enter a room.

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We spend a lot of time talking—sharing our thoughts, our opinions, our stories—but how often do we really stop and listen? Becky Harling encourages you to develop the one skill that will strengthen every relationship you have—the art of listening. She’ll walk through some practical steps to develop healthy habits that will help you become more intentional, proactive listeners.

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Can a holy God overlook our mistakes? Should a kind God punish our mistakes? From our perspective there are only two equally unappealing solutions.  But from God’s perspective there’s a third.  It’s called “the Cross of Christ.”

The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.  How could he do this? In a sentence:  God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. “God put on him the wrong who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 MSG).

Why did he do it? Because “God so loved the world that he gave his only son” (John 3:16 NLT).  Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read “For God so loved the rich”?  Or “For God so loved the famous”? No. We simply (and happily) read: “For God so loved the world!” And you my friend, are included in that love!

Read more He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Melanie Shankle shares how childhood trauma and a “mean girl” mom affected her life, marriage, and motherhood, bringing a message of hope and healing in Jesus Christ.

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Melanie Shankle reminds us God can still redeem us, even if we had a broken childhood.

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Receive the book Here Be Dragons plus a free audio download of "Healing as a Parent from Childhood Trauma" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.

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Garments can symbolize character, and like his garment, Jesus’ character was seamless. He was like his robe: uninterrupted perfection. A seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth…from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion. From God’s word to Jesus’ response. All one piece. All a picture of the character of Jesus.

But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe– the wardrobe of indignity. Shamed before his family. The indignity of nakedness. The indignity of failure. Shamed before his accusers. Worst of all he bore the indignity of sin. The scripture says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 NIV).  The clothing of Christ on the cross? Sin. It was yours and mine.

Read more He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Melanie Shankle reminds us God can still redeem us, even if we had a broken childhood.

Listen to the Full Program

Receive the book Here Be Dragons plus a free audio download of "Healing as a Parent from Childhood Trauma" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family Minute, please give us your feedback.

Melanie Shankle shares how childhood trauma and a “mean girl” mom affected her life, marriage, and motherhood, bringing a message of hope and healing in Jesus Christ.

Receive the book Here Be Dragons plus a free audio download of "Healing as a Parent from Childhood Trauma" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

Think about the thief on the cross who repented! We know little about him, but we know this: He made some bad mistakes in his life. But is he spending eternity reaping the fruit of all the bad choices he made?  No, just the opposite. He is enjoying the fruit of the one good choice he made.

You may look back over your life and say, “If only. . .if only I could make up for those bad choices.”  You can!  One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth.

How could two thieves see the same Jesus and one choose to mock him and the other choose to pray to him? When one prayed, Jesus loved him enough to save him.  When the other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the choice.  And He does the same for you.

Read more He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.