#160. Jeremiah 13-18: Being Deeply Rooted in God When Life Feels Like a Drought

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This is The Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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Today in our reading of Jeremiah chapters

thirteen through eighteen, the Lord

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will provide multiple illustrations

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To continue to communicate with His people

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One of them is sure to be familiar

to you, And in my opinion, is one

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of the most beautifully challenging

images in all of scripture

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Part of me was a little tempted

to name this episode, "When God

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Tells You to Buy New Underwear,"

but you know I couldn't do that.

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Because in chapter 13, God tells

Jeremiah to buy a linen loincloth

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and put it around his waist

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Linen was definitively a priestly fabric

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So the people would

certainly get this message

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Next, God continues his

directions in commanding Jeremiah

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To go to the Euphrates and

hide the garment in the rock

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jeremiah obeys.

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if you've studied Middle Eastern

geography, you might be thinking,

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"Whoa, the Euphrates was pretty

far away You'd be correct.

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It's about a 700-mile round trip journey

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One of my commentaries absolutely

believes that God called Jeremiah

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to make this long journey.

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But another explains this possibility

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in Hebrew, the spelling for to Perah

and to Euphrates are identical.

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and there was a village about three

miles from Anathoth, Jeremiah's hometown

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My moody commentary leans more toward

Jeremiah's destination being this

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nearby village, because then the people

would have been able to observe the

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process of what Jeremiah was doing

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this would have pointed to the

future judgment of Babylon being

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near the Euphrates, but that God

didn't ask Jeremiah to physically

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make that 700-mile journey

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god commands Jeremiah

to go get the loincloth.

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Not surprisingly It's filthy and ruined.

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and the ESV translation

says it was good for nothing

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God explains, " Even so will

I spoil the pride of Judah and

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the great pride of Jerusalem.

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This evil people who

refuses to hear my words

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who stubbornly follow their own heart

And have gone after other gods to

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serve them and worship them shall be

like this loincloth, which is good for

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nothing for as the loincloth clings

to the waist of a man, so I made the

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whole house of Israel and the whole

house of Judah cling to me," declares

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the Lord, " that they might be for me a

people, a name, a praise, and a glory.

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But they would not listen."

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And after convicting them

with an illustration of wine

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God tells the people how they will

be publicly and completely humiliated

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because of how they've forgotten Him

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In chapter 14, we learn that the

people are in a severe drought

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even though God has told Jeremiah over

and over to not pray for the people

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He just can't seem to help himself

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Though our iniquities testify against

us, act, O Lord, for Your name's sake!

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For our backslidings are many;

we have sinned against You.

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O You hope of Israel, its Savior in time

of trouble, why should You be like a

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stranger in the land, like a traveler

who burns aside to tarry for a night?

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Why should You be like a man confused,

like a mighty warrior who cannot save?

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Yet You, O Lord, are in the

midst of us, and we are called

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by Your name; do not leave us.

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The Lord said to me, "Do not pray

for the welfare of this people.

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Though they fast, I

will not hear their cry.

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And though they offer burnt offering

and grain offering, I will not accept

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them, but I will consume them by the

sword, by famine, and by pestilence."

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We acknowledge our wickedness, O

Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers,

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for we have sinned against you.

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Do not spurn us for your name's sake.

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Do not dishonor your glorious throne.

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Remember and do not break

your covenant with us.

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Are there any among the false gods

of the nations that can bring rain?

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Or can the heavens give showers?

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Are you not He, O Lord our God?

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We set our hope on you,

for you do all these things

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It certainly seems like lip service

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And at the beginning of chapter 15,

God makes his stance definitive Then

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the Lord said to me, " Though Moses and

Samuel stood before me, yet my heart

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would not turn toward this people.

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send them out of my sight and let them go.

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.'" Jeremiah has interceded for

the nation over and over

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But now we find him

discouraged and in need of hope

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Beginning in 15:15, "O Lord, you know.

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Remember me and visit me, take

vengeance for me on my persecutors.

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In your forbearance take me not away.

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Know that for your sake I bear reproach.

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Your words were found and I ate

them, and your words became to me

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a joy and the delight of my heart."

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For I am called by your

name, O Lord God of hosts.

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I did not sit in the company

of revelers, nor did I rejoice

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I sat alone because your hand was upon me,

for you had filled me with indignation.

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Why is my pain unceasing, my wound

incurable, refusing to be healed?

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Will you be to me like a deceitful

brook, like waters that fail?

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Therefore thus says the Lord: " If

you return, I will restore you,

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and you shall stand before me.

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If you utter what is precious and not what

is worthless, you shall be as my mouth.

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They shall turn to you, but

you shall not turn to them.

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And I will make you to this

people a fortified wall of bronze.

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They will fight against you, but

they shall not prevail over you,

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for I am with you to save you and

deliver you," declares the Lord.

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" I will deliver you out of the

hand of the wicked and redeem you

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from the grasp of the ruthless."

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There are a couple verses

that I pray for myself,

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And two of them are found here in

: 15:16

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ate them, and your words became to me

a joy and the delight of my heart."

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And then in 19 when God says to

Jeremiah, "If you utter what is

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precious and not what is worthless,

you shall be as my mouth."

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Now, I know Jeremiah had an

entirely different and holy

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calling as God was using him

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to speak and pen one of

the books of the Bible.

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But it's my desire that I would also speak

what is precious and not what is worthless

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One verse that you may find comfort

with is that Jeremiah said to God, "Will

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you be to me like a deceitful brook?

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Like waters that fail?"

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Don't we all have seasons like

that where you think, "God, this

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really isn't what I expected."

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And I thought if I obeyed you

there would be a different result

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Maybe you've felt discouraged as

you read all of the promises in

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scripture and then looked at your

own life and felt a spiritual void

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If so, you're not alone Jeremiah served

God for about five decades with no

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fruit can you imagine being a pastor

preaching a message of repentance

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to the same audience for 50 years

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and not seeing any conversions I think

it's very relatable that Jeremiah is

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struggling with discouragement, especially

considering the fact that he's faced

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persecution and even plots to end his life

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Judah doesn't want to hear how

Jeremiah is calling out their sin.

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And it had to be an incredibly lonely

mission But of course, God was with him

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And making it even more lonely, in chapter

16, God told him to not take a wife.

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Though God commanded people many times

in scripture to be fruitful and multiply,

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He commands Jeremiah just the opposite.

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He knows judgment is coming,

and He doesn't want Jeremiah's

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offspring to have to face it

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chapter 17 begins, " The sin of

Judah is written with a pen of iron.

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With a point of diamond, it is

engraved on the tablet of their

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heart and on the horns of the altar.

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A pen of iron and a point of

diamond was the most permanent

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method of inscription at that point

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These people are so hard-hearted

and so set in their wicked ways

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that none of God's

warnings have penetrated

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Thus says the Lord: Cursed is

the man who trusts in man, and

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makes flesh his strength, whose

heart turns away from the Lord.

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He is like a shrub in the desert,

and shall not see any good come.

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He shall dwell in the parched

places of the wilderness,

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in an uninhabited salt land.

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Blessed is the man who trusts in

the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

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He is like a tree planted by water,

that sends out its roots by the stream

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and does not fear when heat comes,

for its leaves remain green and is not

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anxious in the year of drought, for

it does not cease to bear fruit."

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I absolutely love these verses

And when I said that they're

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beautifully convicting, I mean it,

because I want this to be true of me

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The Lord is speaking to people

who are in a severe drought But he

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says that when you trust in Him,

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You can be continually filled and

satisfied by the living water of the Lord

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These times of drought can force you to

dig your roots deep so that they seek the

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nearby water And I bet you've experienced

that, where the harder life gets,

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sometimes you know you need Jesus more and

more, and those are the times that you dig

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into His Word and you find yourself being

strengthened and growing in your faith

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This deeply rooted tree Doesn't fear the

heat and is not anxious in the drought

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because it trusts in the

provision and the care of the Lord

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and incredibly, even in the drought

and the scorching heat, its leaves are

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remaining green and it's bearing fruit

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these are verses I frequently pray

would be true of me, It's a little

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surprising that the next verse is, " The

heart is deceitful above all things, and

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desperately sick; who can understand it?"

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and if we keep this verse in

context, remember this chapter

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opened With God saying that Judah's

sin is engraved on their heart

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Their hearts were so sick That

Jeremiah wondered, who could heal them?

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And verse 10 is the answer, " I, the

Lord, search the heart and test the mind,

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to give every man according to his ways,

according to the fruit of his deeds."

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God knows exactly what will

work to bring us back to Him

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But it's an excellent reminder for us

to remember that our flesh is wicked

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we deceive ourselves all the time

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whether it's thinking that we can just

watch one episode or just eat two Oreos

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Or in making a to-do list and

thinking we can get way more

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done than we actually can.

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We're constantly

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misunderstanding our own weaknesses

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When Peter was convinced that

he would stay faithful to the

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Lord, Jesus said, " The spirit is

willing, but the flesh is weak."

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and I find that Truth, battling in

my flesh and my spirit all the time

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Being reminded of my own weakness

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Helps me to be more gracious with my kids

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When they've had so much less experience

realizing the wickedness of their own

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hearts Perhaps you're thinking some

of that sounds really familiar to

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something we already studied this year.

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You are right

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it's very reminiscent of Psalm 1

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For the rest of chapter 17, God rebukes

the people for not honoring the Sabbath.

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The Sabbath wasn't just a rule to

follow, it was supposed to be a

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sign and a way that Israel looked

different from every other nation

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when they stopped their work, it showed

their trust in the Lord they were

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also supposed to rest the land every

seven years, and they've refused to

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I find it really fascinating that at

the point that Judah goes into exile,

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it's been 490 years since the land was

allowed to rest God's people will be in

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captivity for 70 years, which is the exact

amount of time that the land should have

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been resting if they would've obeyed Him

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After God's thorough rebuke

for their lack of faithfulness

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In honoring the Sabbath

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It's one of those chapters where you

have to say hallelujah for the bus

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because God again gives them

hope and an opportunity in: 17:24

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" But if you listen to me," declares the

Lord, " and bring in no burden by the

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gates of the city on the Sabbath day,

but keep the Sabbath day holy and do

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no work on it, then there shall enter

by the gates of the city kings and

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princes who sit on the throne of David-

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He goes on to say, "And this

city shall be inhabited forever."

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There are multiple references

in the Bible that God is the

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potter and we are the clay.

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But the most descriptive of these

is in Jeremiah God tells Jeremiah

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to go to a potter's house jeremiah

watches this potter at work

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What he's making just isn't turning

out right, so he starts over And

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it seemed good to the potter to do

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God tells Jeremiah

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shouldn't I be able to

do this with my people?

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When it's not going well

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Shouldn't I have a chance?

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To rework the clay?

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It really is a perspective shift

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We are the Lord's.

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He has created us for His glory

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We need to be surrendered to His

will for our lives and rejoice

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at exactly how He's made us

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and I know I'm speaking to women and

that that's not an easy one for us.

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So let's go to prayer

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Heavenly Father, we thank you

that you are a talented potter we

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thank you for the good way that

you created us and our families,

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Help us to see ourselves and

others the way that you see us

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We thank you.

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that your words can be found by us and

can be the delight of our hearts Help

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us to faithfully seek them out guide us

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To speak words that are precious

and not worthless, and to train

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our families in doing the same.

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We know that our words deeply matter

And we long to honor you with them

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Make us mothers that trust in you may

every drought and trial cause us to

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be even more deeply rooted in you

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Help us to not be anxious or fearful

even when we're going through

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difficult circumstances And we

humbly ask that in those times

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You would produce fruit in our

lives and help us to come out of

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them Better, greener, and more

fruitful It's for your glory and your

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name that we pray this all, Jesus.

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Amen