July 17, 2020 CAC Living Water Devotional :- AUTHENTIC LIVING

Friday, July 17, 2020

AUTHENTIC LIVING

Read: Jeremiah 4:19-31

“My soul, my soul! I writhe in anguish and pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is pounding and throbbing within me; I cannot be silent, For you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war. News of one [terrible] disaster comes close after another, For the whole land is devastated; Suddenly my tents are spoiled and destroyed, My [tent] curtains [ruined] in a moment. How long [O LORD ] must I see the banner [marking the way for flight] And hear the sound of the trumpet [urging the people to run for safety]? “For My people are stupid and foolish,” [says the LORD to Jeremiah]; “They do not know Me; They are foolish children And have no understanding. They are shrewd [enough] to do evil, But they do not know [how] to do good.” I looked at the earth [in my vision], and behold, it was [as at the time of creation] formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no light. I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were trembling, And all the hills moved back and forth. I looked, and behold, there was no man, And all the birds of the air had fled.

I looked, and behold, the fertile land was a wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the [presence of the] LORD, before His fierce anger. Therefore says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation, Yet I will not cause total destruction. For this reason the earth shall mourn And the heavens above shall become dark, Because I have spoken, I have decided, And I will not change my mind (relent), nor will I turn back from it.” Every city runs away at the sound of the horsemen and archers. They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks; Every city is deserted, And no man lives in them. And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, Though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, Though you enlarge your eyes with paint, You make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers (allies) despise you; They seek your life. For I heard a cry like a woman in labor, The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, The cry of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem), who gasps for breath, Who stretches out her hands, saying, “Woe is me [my judgment comes]! I faint [in fear] before the murderers.

Jeremiah 4:19-31 AMP‬‬

MEMORISE: O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return. (Jeremiah 5:3)

EXPOSITION

In the days of Jeremiah, the people of Israel refused to repent before a holy God. Even as the crying prophet declared to them of the Lord’s warnings against their sin and rebellion; they had refused to budge. What made them so harden with their sin? In the later verses of Jeremiah 5, it seems to suggest that the people loved their sin so much that they were delusional. It seems that they did not believe the words of the prophets: “The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done with them!” (Jeremiah 5:13).

There could be times when we behave just like the people of Israel. We love our sins so much that we become delusional. The Word of God came to us and warned us about our sins; yet we harden our hearts and tried to deceive ourselves that no, the Word cannot be speaking to us. In times like this, the Lord might put people in our midst to rebuke us. We can only pray for ourselves that we be humble, receive the rebuke and resolve to change.

However, having people in our midst to rebuke, or to speak the truth in love is not an “automatic thing”, even in the Christian community. It must be intentional. It must be constantly encouraged and built up. We need work on it to cultivate a true sense of living authentically with one another. This is so that we can readily help one another, if any of us falls into sin. This is so that we may do away with the unhealthy thinking that we should not confide in one another due to the risk of sabotage or shame. A true authentic community fears neither risk nor shame; because in everything that is revealed, confessed and confided, it is done for the glory of God.

PRAYER POINTS

1. May the Lord give us wisdom, courage and strength to be an authentic community of Christians in Jesus’ name.

2. Pray that God would give us grace to help one another when we meet with a crisis of faith in our journey with Him.

3. Pray God to rid our churches and societies of fake, pretentious and wolf-like brethren.

EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Nehemiah 10 – 11; Hebrews 7