In judging of others a man labors in vain, often errs, and easily sins; but in judging and examining himself, he always labors fruitfully. Thomas a Kempis
I am a God who is near, declares the LORD. And not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:23-24 NASB)
My study of the Word of God has brought me to the Book of Jeremiah. This time in my reading I am really taking notice of the pain that the prophet had to endure daily. Not only did he have the emotional pain of not being accepted, but also the physical pain of being beaten and thrown in jail. God had given Jeremiah the vision of where the nation of Israel was headed and as he spoke the truth he found himself rejected, beaten and imprisoned. And Jeremiah had to go about all this alone, God would not allow him to marry. He was like a fish that is swimming against the school of other fish, being bombarded head on and on either side by those headed the other direction. Still, he kept moving in the direction that God wanted, what a remarkable person he must have been. We refer to him as the weeping prophet, and he was sad, but he was full of God and had strength to carry on. Jeremiah got so down that he even accused the Lord of deceiving him (Jeremiah 20:7), and complained that he was made a laughingstock and was mocked. He even cursed the day he was born. Now thats depression. I feel that he said this only from his mind and not from his heart. When Jeremiah tried to not speak the words that the Lord had given him, his heart became like a burning fire (Jeremiah 20:9). When we do the right thing and it hurts, we still know that it was the right thing to do. Jeremiahs life wasnt all doom and gloom he probably retired comfortably. When the nation of Israel was invaded as Jeremiah predicted, and the nation taken into captivity, he was released from prison and given the option to stay in Jerusalem if he wanted. The light had finally started to shine. He chose to stay in Jerusalem and later moved to Egypt and there he died. I can relate to Jeremiah in many ways. Even though he served God and I served myself, some of his depression I have experienced. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity, of being alone and rejected have been part of my life also. These feelings I experienced as my alcoholism progressed and became a consuming self-centered disease that was killing me physically, emotionally and spiritually. Praise be to God for helping me see that I could live a different life. A life centered on Him and not my selfish self-pity. Today I share my experience, strength and hope, and my experiences have become livable. My strength has become stronger and my hope is clear and abounding in His love. God has done for me what I could not do for myself JRE
Share this with me from todays devotional reading by Oswald Chambers
Partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4
We are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises; then we have to manipulate the Divine nature in our human nature by habits, and the first habit to form is the habit of realizing the provisions God has made. Oh, I cant afford it, we say, one of the worst lies is tucked up in that phrase. It is ungovernably bad taste to talk about money in the natural domain, and so it is spiritually, and yet we talk as if our Heavenly Father had cut us off without a shilling! We think it a sign of real modesty to say at the end of the day, Oh, well, I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle. And all the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will obey Him. What does it matter if external circumstances are hard? Why should they not be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we banish Gods riches from our own lives and hinder others from entering into His provisions. No sin is worse than self-pity, because it obliterates God and puts self-interest upon the throne. It opens our mouths to spit out murmurings and our lives become craving spiritual sponges.
OSWALD CHAMBERS
I am a God who is near, declares the LORD. And not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:23-24 NASB)
My study of the Word of God has brought me to the Book of Jeremiah. This time in my reading I am really taking notice of the pain that the prophet had to endure daily. Not only did he have the emotional pain of not being accepted, but also the physical pain of being beaten and thrown in jail. God had given Jeremiah the vision of where the nation of Israel was headed and as he spoke the truth he found himself rejected, beaten and imprisoned. And Jeremiah had to go about all this alone, God would not allow him to marry. He was like a fish that is swimming against the school of other fish, being bombarded head on and on either side by those headed the other direction. Still, he kept moving in the direction that God wanted, what a remarkable person he must have been. We refer to him as the weeping prophet, and he was sad, but he was full of God and had strength to carry on. Jeremiah got so down that he even accused the Lord of deceiving him (Jeremiah 20:7), and complained that he was made a laughingstock and was mocked. He even cursed the day he was born. Now thats depression. I feel that he said this only from his mind and not from his heart. When Jeremiah tried to not speak the words that the Lord had given him, his heart became like a burning fire (Jeremiah 20:9). When we do the right thing and it hurts, we still know that it was the right thing to do. Jeremiahs life wasnt all doom and gloom he probably retired comfortably. When the nation of Israel was invaded as Jeremiah predicted, and the nation taken into captivity, he was released from prison and given the option to stay in Jerusalem if he wanted. The light had finally started to shine. He chose to stay in Jerusalem and later moved to Egypt and there he died. I can relate to Jeremiah in many ways. Even though he served God and I served myself, some of his depression I have experienced. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity, of being alone and rejected have been part of my life also. These feelings I experienced as my alcoholism progressed and became a consuming self-centered disease that was killing me physically, emotionally and spiritually. Praise be to God for helping me see that I could live a different life. A life centered on Him and not my selfish self-pity. Today I share my experience, strength and hope, and my experiences have become livable. My strength has become stronger and my hope is clear and abounding in His love. God has done for me what I could not do for myself JRE
Share this with me from todays devotional reading by Oswald Chambers
Partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4
We are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises; then we have to manipulate the Divine nature in our human nature by habits, and the first habit to form is the habit of realizing the provisions God has made. Oh, I cant afford it, we say, one of the worst lies is tucked up in that phrase. It is ungovernably bad taste to talk about money in the natural domain, and so it is spiritually, and yet we talk as if our Heavenly Father had cut us off without a shilling! We think it a sign of real modesty to say at the end of the day, Oh, well, I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle. And all the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will obey Him. What does it matter if external circumstances are hard? Why should they not be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we banish Gods riches from our own lives and hinder others from entering into His provisions. No sin is worse than self-pity, because it obliterates God and puts self-interest upon the throne. It opens our mouths to spit out murmurings and our lives become craving spiritual sponges.
OSWALD CHAMBERS
