Wed.’s Devo - Follow the Lord

Read: Jeremiah 42:1-44:23; 2 Timothy 2:1-21; Psalm 92:1-93:5; Proverbs 26:3-5 Johanan had rescued all the people and they were preparing to flee to Egypt for fear of what the Babylonians would do to them. Before they left, the military leaders along with Johanan went to Jeremiah to ask him what the Lord would say to them. They promised whatever he told them to do, they would do it, even if it was not what they wanted to hear. *** Jeremiah went to seek the Lord for an answer and ten days later, the Lord answered him. He told them to stay in the land and God would provide for them. The Babylonians would be kind to them and let them stay in their land. But, if they refuse to listen and go to Egypt, then the very thing they were running from will find them there. They will be killed with war, famine and disease. Then he rebuked them and told them that they were not honest with him at the start. They had already made up their minds what they were going to do and had no intention of obeying the Lord. *** Azariah, Johanan and the other men called Jeremiah a liar and took everyone including Jeremiah to Egypt. When they came to Tahpanhes in Egypt, Jeremiah took some large rocks and buried them under the pavement stones at the entrance of Pharoah’s palace. He told the people of Judah that God would certainly bring Nebuchadnezzar to Egypt and he would set his throne over these stones. When he comes he will bring death, captivity, and war. He will set the temples of Egypt’s gods on fire and carry away the idols as plunder. *** Later, Jeremiah gave a message to all the people scattered throughout Egypt and reminded them that God had destroyed Jerusalem for their idolatry and now they were doing the same thing in Egypt. God wanted to know why they were bringing destruction upon themselves by doing this. Because they refused to repent, he would destroy the remnant in Egypt and only a handful will end up returning home. *** The people acknowledged that they worshipped other gods and claimed that when they worshipped the Queen of Heaven in Jerusalem all went well. When they stopped, all hell broke loose. Jeremiah explained that God had put up with their idolatry as long as he could and had to do something about it. The people had rejected God’s laws and refused to obey him so now they were reaping their reward. *** In the second letter to Timothy, Paul gave Timothy some good advise. He told him to think of himself as a soldier who must endure suffering to please his commander. Then he told him to learn to obey God’s laws like an athlete who must follow the rules when competing. Next, he told him that like a farmer he should be the first to enjoy the fruits of his labor. In a nutshell he was saying that it is hard right now to do what is right, but if he continues, he will be rewarded. *** Then Paul reminded him of the resurrection of Christ. We have eternal glory to look forward to. If a person is busy about the Lord’s business, he doesn’t have time to get involved in foolish talk that has turned some people from the faith. *** God’s truth is our foundation stone and God knows which ones are his. If we are his we have to turn from evil. If we deny him, he will deny us; but if we are faithful, he will be faithful to us. Those who keep themselves clean will be ready for the Lord to use us to do good things. *** Lord, may we keep you the number one thing in our lives. We proclaim your unfailing love and faithfulness.