#163. Mom, Your Child's Choices Are Not a Verdict on Your Motherhood | Jeremiah 31-36

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This is The Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox and in today's

reading of Jeremiah 31 through 36,

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God allows Jeremiah to speak much

about the future hope of the people.

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After decades of warning of their

impending judgment, in these chapters, we

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have rich insights into God's character

His desire to bless and dwell with

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His people In chapters 30 through 33,

Jeremiah begins to tell of a new covenant

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God will initiate with His people.

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In 31:10 through 14, " Hear the word

of the Lord, O nations, and declare

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in it the coastlands far away.

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Say he who scattered Israel will

gather him and will keep him

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as a shepherd keeps his flock.

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For the Lord has ransomed

Jacob, and has redeemed him

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from hands too strong for him.

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They shall come and sing aloud on the

height of Zion, and they shall be radiant

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over the goodness of the Lord, over the

grain, the wine, and the oil, and over

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the young of the flock and the herd.

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Their life shall be like a watered

shed, and they shall languish no more.

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Then shall the young women rejoice

in the dance, and the young

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men and the old shall be merry.

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I will turn their mourning into joy.

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I will comfort them and give them gladness

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For sorrow.

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I will feast the soul of the

priests with abundance, and my

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people shall be satisfied with

my goodness, declares the Lord.

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Isn't that such a beautiful reality?

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And my people shall be

satisfied with my goodness.

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In chapter 32, even though Jeremiah

is in prison at this point,

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God calls him to buy a field.

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Now, this seems like a pretty radical

call when you're in prison, And

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when the Babylonians had already

taken over that portion of land.

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But Jeremiah obeys because it

reveals that he has faith in all the

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promises that the Lord is saying.

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He believes God will bring

the people back to the land.

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it possibly also indicates the fact

that Jeremiah was wealthier than some

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of the other prophets After this

transaction, Jeremiah praises the Lord

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and as I read this portion, I want you

to listen for the rich theology and what

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we're reminded about God's character

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Beginning in 32:17 Lord God, it is you

who have made the heavens and the earth.

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By your great power and

by your outstretched arm,

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nothing is too hard for you.

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You show steadfast love to thousands,

but you repay the guilt of fathers

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to their children after them.

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O great and mighty God, whose name is

the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and

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mighty in deed, whose eyes are open

to all the ways of the children of man,

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rewarding each one according to his ways

and according to the fruit of his deeds.

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You have shown signs and wonders in

the land of Egypt, and to this day in

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Israel and among all mankind, and have

made a name for yourself as at this day.

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You brought your people Israel out

of the land of Egypt with signs

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and wonders, with a strong hand and

outstretched arm, and with great terror.

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And you gave them this land, which you

swore to their fathers to give them,

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a land flowing with milk and honey.

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And they entered and

took possession of it.

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But they did not obey your

voice or walk in your law.

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They did nothing of all

you commanded them to do.

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Therefore, you have made all

this disaster come upon them.

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And behold, the siege mounds have

come up to the city to take it.

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And because of sword and famine

and pestilence, the city is given

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into the hand of the Chaldeans

who are fighting against it.

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What you spoke has come to

pass, and behold, you see it.

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Yet you, O God, have said to

me, " Buy the field for money and get

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witnesses, though the city is given

into the hands of the Chaldeans."

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The word of the Lord came to

Jeremiah: " Behold, I am the

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Lord, the God of all flesh.

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Is anything too hard for me?

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Therefore thus says the Lord:

'Behold, I am giving this city into

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the hands of the Chaldeans and into

the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of

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Babylon, and he shall capture it.

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The Chaldeans who are fighting against

this city shall come and set this city on

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fire and burn it, with the houses on whose

roofs offerings have been made to Baal

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and drink offerings have been poured out

to other gods, to provoke me to anger.'"

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For the children of Israel and the

children of Judah have done nothing

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but evil in my sight from their youth.

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The children of Israel have done nothing

but provoke me to anger by the work

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of their hands, declares the Lord.

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This city has aroused my anger and

wrath from the day it was built to this

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day, so that I will remove it from my

sight because of all the evil of the

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children of Israel and the children of

Judah, that they did provoke me to anger

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Their kings and their officials,

their priests and their prophets,

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the men of Judah and the inhabitants

of Jerusalem, they have turned to

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me their back and not their face.

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And though I have taught them

persistently, they have not

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listened to receive instruction.

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They set up their abominations

in the house that is called

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by my name to defile it.

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They build the high places of Baal in

the valley of the Son of Hinnom to offer

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up their sons and daughters to Molech,

though I did not command them, nor did

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it enter into my mind that they should do

this abomination, to cause Judah to sin

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Now therefore thus says the Lord, the

God of Israel, concerning this city of

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which you say, ' It is given into the

hand of the king of Babylon, by sword,

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by famine, and by pestilence': Behold, I

will gather them from all the countries

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to which I drove them in my anger, and

my wrath, and in great indignation.

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I will bring them back to this place,

and will make them dwell in safety.

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And they shall be my people, and I

will be their God I will give them one

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heart and one way that they may fear

me forever for their own good and the

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good of their children after them.

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I will make with them an everlasting

covenant that I will not turn away

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from doing good to them, and I will

put the fear of me in their hearts

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that they may not turn from me.

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I will rejoice in doing them good,

and I will plant them in this

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land in faithfulness with all

my heart and with all my soul.

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For thus says the Lord, " Just as I

have brought all this great disaster

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upon this people, so I will bring upon

them all the good that I promised them."

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I chose this to be our reading for

today because of how much it affirms

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regarding the character of God after

many chapters of sorrow and suffering

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It's beautiful to hear Jeremiah rejoicing

in the character of God and then God

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gives us a history lesson on exactly

why His people are being disciplined

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but then in the most

radical of transitions

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God pivots to provide these

incredibly beautiful promises.

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and they're some of my very favorite

verses to pray over my kids, so that's

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how we'll be ending the episode Let me

mention a few of those blessings again.

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God will gather them.

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He will make them dwell in safety.

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He will give them one heart and one way.

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They will fear Him forever for their

good and the good of their children.

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God will make an everlasting

covenant, and He will not turn

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away from doing good to them.

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He'll put the fear of God in their

hearts so they won't turn away from Him.

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He will rejoice in doing them good

and plant them in the land with all

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His heart and with all His soul.

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To the extent that He brought discipline,

He will now bring blessing and favor

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Jesus talked about this new covenant

in the Last Supper, and some of these

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promises are already being fulfilled

by anyone, Jew or Gentile, who has

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professed belief in Jesus Christ

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and we look forward to the day

when all of it will be fulfilled.

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by our righteous King.

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As I've said many times, I never

want to force the parenting theme

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But as much as I'm saddened over the

people's sin in these chapters, I'm

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also somewhat encouraged that God

persistently, effectively communicated

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the truth and the law to the nation,

and they did not obey and honor Him

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That might seem like an odd statement,

but it reminds me not to fixate on my

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kids' disobedience or to think it's

all about me, when in fact My kids

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and your kids all have sin natures.

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And just because a child wants to do their

own thing, whether it's wearing what they

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wanna wear, sneaking another treat, trying

to have more screen time or more time

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with a friend, that doesn't necessarily

say anything about their relationship

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with us or our effectiveness as mothers.

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I'm thankful that we can have God's

model to parent in light of eternity

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And to not grow weary even when our

kids' choices are entirely wearisome

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And I haven't mentioned it in a while,

but that's why our ministry exists.

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Entrusted With a Child's Heart

is all about bringing these

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biblical insights together

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to help you focus on what truly matters

to the Lord about your parenting.

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As always, it'll be

linked in the show notes

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if you'd like to learn more.

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As we move on to Jeremiah

chapter 33, we read 33:3.

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It's a well-known, beautiful

verse, and some even include it

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in their gospel presentation.

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While Jeremiah is in prison, God tells

him, " Call to me and I will answer

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you, and will tell you great and

hidden things that you have not known."

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Even though they could probably

feel the wall shaking from the

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attack of the Chaldean army.

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In 33:9, God says, " And this city

shall be to me a name of joy, a

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praise and a glory before all the

nations of the earth, who shall hear

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of all the good that I do for them.

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They shall fear and tremble

because of all the good and all

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the prosperity I provide for it."

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Wow,

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have you ever been afraid

of God's abundant blessing?

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Continuing to speak to that new

covenant, beginning in verse fourteen,

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we read, " Behold, the days are

coming," declares the Lord, " when I

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will fulfill the promise I made to the

house of Israel and the house of Judah.

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In those days and at that time, I will

cause a righteous branch to spring

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up for David, and he shall execute

justice and righteousness in the land.

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In those days, Jerusalem will

dwell securely, and this is the

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name by which it will be called:

The Lord is our righteousness."

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It's a beautiful promise And one day

Jesus will reign as priest and king.

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But unfortunately, not everything from

our reading today was hope and beauty.

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we encounter a circumstance in which

King Zedekiah freed his slaves but then

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took them back, completely contradicting

the way God said you were supposed to

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treat people who needed to pay off debts

God's intention was that they could

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maintain their dignity and have honor

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while being restored financially In fact,

God says that they profaned His name by

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how they dealt with this issue of slavery.

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That's a very strong rebuke And so that we

continue to understand that listening and

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obeying is a thoroughly biblical concept,

I wanted to read Jeremiah: 35:13

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" Then the word of the Lord came to

Jeremiah, ' Thus says the Lord of hosts,

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the God of Israel, " Go and say to the

people of Judah and the inhabitants

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of Jerusalem, Will you not receive

instruction and listen to my words?"

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declares the Lord.'"

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I have spoken to you persistently,

but you have not listened to me.

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I have sent to you all my servants, the

prophet, all my servants, the prophets,

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sending them persistently saying, ' Turn

now every one of you from his evil

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way and amend your deeds, and do not

go after other gods to serve them,

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and then you shall dwell in the land

that I gave to you and your fathers.'

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But you did not incline

your ear or listen to me."

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as we read chapter 36, we're

invited to learn more about Baruch's

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responsibilities and faithfulness in

attending to Jeremiah as a scribe.

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Even while Jeremiah is in prison, Baruch

stands by him, writing down all the

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words that Jeremiah dictates to him,

those that he has heard from the Lord

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Jehoiakim or Jehoiakim, however

you'd like to pronounce it, was the

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second to the last king of Judah.

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he sends for this scroll that Jeremiah

is writing, and in a horrific and wicked

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display of the lack of the fear of the

Lord, as one of his men reads it to him,

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The king would cut off a few

columns of the scroll and throw

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them into the fire until the

entire scroll had been burned up.

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It would be awful to do this to

any portion of the word of God

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but this is the peak of arrogance

To burn these warnings about

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his own impending judgment.

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His heart was abundantly hard.

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I'm still getting over the fact that

Amy burned Jo's writing in Little

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Women and Joe had to rewrite it all.

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And side note, Jeremiah and Baruch have

to redo this entire scroll, and they do.

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But how much more wicked is

this That they're burning

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the word of God Now get this.

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Do you know who Jehoiakim's father was?

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Josiah.

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Remember how radically different Josiah's

response to hearing the word of God was?

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Instead of tearing the word of

God in the scroll, he tore his

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clothes in repentance and humility.

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These two men may share DNA, but their

hearts were far from each other It's

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difficult to understand how with all

of Josiah's reforms and faithfulness

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to the Lord that his son could act so

irreverently toward the holy word of God

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We aren't given any indication in

scripture that Josiah wasn't a faithful

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father, and we could be completely

discouraged by this reality, or we

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can take all of this unsettledness

right before the Lord, praying His

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Word for our kids because we know

these are promises He longs to answer

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Heavenly Father, we praise you for

your faithful example as a father.

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We thank you for the way you

have parented and disciplined us.

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And Lord, we confess to you that often

our role as mothers and our attempts to be

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faithful day in and day out are wearying.

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We need your Holy Spirit to help

us endure well for your glory.

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Help us to discern the battles

that are important to you and which

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ones could be left for another

time or another season Give us a

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vision of your plans for our kids

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and help us to have faith

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So that we can have hope even when their

choices don't match up with what we've

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taught them We pray you would give our

kids one heart and one way that they would

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fear you forever for their own good and

for the good of their children after them.

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We pray that they would be included in

your everlasting covenant, that you would

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not turn away from doing good to them.

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Put the fear of you in their hearts

that they would not turn away from you.

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Rejoice in doing them good and plant

them in faithfulness with all your

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heart and with all your soul We thank

you that you've entrusted them to

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us and that you love them so dearly.

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And we pray all of this in the

Lord who is our righteousness

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Jesus Christ, amen