Tues.’s Devo - Righteousness on Display

Read: Jeremiah 35:1-36:32; 1 Timothy 5:1-25; Psalm 89:14-37; Proverbs 25:25-27 Today we will go back to when Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son was king. God told Jeremiah to set up the Recabites as examples of righteousness. They had made a covenant with God not to drink wine, plant gardens or vineyards or settle and build houses. Jeremiah brought one of the Recabite families into the Temple and into a separate room where no one would ever know what happened in that room. There, he offered them wine. They refused to drink it and explained that their ancestor had given them the command not to drink wine or own land and they had obeyed it through the years. Jeremiah then went and told the people of Judah about the faithfulness of the Recabites. The Recabites had not broken the covenant of their ancestors and yet Judah had broken their covenant with God. Because they had disobeyed the Lord, he was going to send disasters upon Israel and Judah. As for the Recabites, they would always have descendants who served Him. During Jehoiakim’s fourth year of his reign God told Jeremiah to write down all the words God had given him about the destruction of Jerusalem so maybe they would repent and then God could repent from his plan. Jeremiah sent for Baruch, the scribe to write them down and take them to the Temple on the Day of Atonement and read the prophecies. When the Temple officials heard Baruch’s words they called him in and listened to them in secret. They were scared because they saw their errors. They told Baruch to take Jeremiah and hide out while they took his scroll to read to the king. The king cut the scroll as it was being read to him and tossed the pieces into the fire. Even though three of his officials begged him to pay attention to the words, his other officials and the king were unaffected by them. Jehoiakim ordered his four sons to go and kill Baruch and Jeremiah, but the Lord had hidden them. God told Jeremiah to write down the same words and send them back to Jehoiakim and tell him that because he burned the last one, none of his sons would sit on the throne. He also added more words to the first one. I must admit that this chapter in Timothy is an eye-opener. What if we did our benevolence programs like they did it then? To get help, you had to prove that you had lived a life worthy of receiving care of. A widow under their welfare had to be 60 plus, have been faithful to her husband, well respected by everyone because of all the good she had done, brought up her children well, been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly, helped those in trouble and was always ready to do good. Wow! We might need to reform our system! If the widow had believing relatives, she should be their responsibility and not the churches. The elders, preachers and teachers should be well paid. Accusations against an elder should be confirmed by two or three witnesses. Sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church to be a warning to others. Every act of sin or righteousness will be revealed either now or later. Lord, may the fear of you fall on our nation and your people so that we will walk in your ways and in holiness.