Fri.’s Devo - God Defends His Own

Read: Jeremiah 28:1-29:32; 1 Timothy 1:1-20; Psalm 86:1-17; Proverbs 25:17 Jeremiah met the false prophet, Hananiah. His name means “the grace of Jehovah”, but it was not time for God’s grace. It was time for his judgment. He gave a message of grace saying that in two years, God would bring back all the treasures of the Temple that King Nebuchadnezzar had carried off to Babylon. Jeremiah said he wished that everything he was saying was right, but the proof would be in the pudding. If what Hananiah had said happened, they they will know he spoke from the Lord. Hananiah then took the wooden yoke off of Jeremiah’s back and broke it as a dramatic display. Jeremiah left and went home. Later, God sent Jeremiah to Hananiah and told him that God had replaced the wooden yoke with an iron one. He told Hananiah that because he had not spoken the truth he would die that year. Two months later, he died. Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives in Babylon telling them to settle in because they were staying for years. They should marry and have children and marry their children because they will be there for 70 years. If they blessed the nation they were taken to, it would go well for them and God would bring them back to their own land. To the people who stayed in Jerusalem, they would be turned over to war famine, and disease. They were the bad figs in the basket that would be hated everywhere they went. They had refused to heed the word of the Lord through Jeremiah. But, they were not the only ones who had refused to listen. The ones taken to Babylon were no different. They had refused to listen also. They touted that they had their own prophets there. They were prophesying lies, so God was going to turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar and they would be executed before their eyes. Jeremiah sent a second letter to Babylon rebuking the false prophet Shemaiah for wanting Jehoiada’s replacement, Zephaniah to kill anyone who prophesied in the name of the Lord. This was directed exclusively to Jeremiah. Zephaniah brought the letter straight to Jeremiah who sent an open letter to be read to all the exiles in Babylon saying that Shemaiah was a false prophet. God was going to punish Shemaiah so that he and none of he family would see the good things God was going to do for his people. Today we begin the words of Paul to Timothy. Timothy’s mother was Lois who was a Jew in Lystra. She was converted to Christianity probably during Paul’s first missionary journey to her city. Her husband was a Gentile and when Timothy had been born, he refused to let him be circumcised. Paul and Timothy became very close. Paul urged Timothy to be circumcised to avoid offending the Jews since his mother was Jewish. Timothy’s challenge was to remove the false legalism that wanted to mix law with grace. He was also fighting the writings that had been added to the law like the Mishnah and the Talmud. Paul explained that the law was written for those who wanted to sin. It was to show them it was wrong but those who walk in love will fulfill the law and the law of grace. Lord, may we walk in the law of grace and love. Thank you that You defend your own like you did for Jeremiah. May your righteous rule defend your people.