By Andrew Williams – March 14, 2021
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord , saying, “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ” And I answered and said, “So be it, Lord .” Jeremiah 11:1-5 NKJV
Today on Redirecting Our Focus we will be looking at the commitments that were made in the past in an attempt to see whether or not we are keeping them. We are excited when we first make a commitment, but sometimes as time passes we forget about that commitment that we’ve made and that causes us to drift away from those with whom we have made the commitment. Today we will look at this passage in Jeremiah and see what we can learn from it.
The covenant that God made with Israel when He rescued them from Egypt is like a marriage vow in which both parties pledged to be faithful to each other and to take care of each other and to love each other. We know from the history of Israel that within 40 days of making that verbal commitment with God and pledging to live by the words of the covenant, that they went off and started worshiping idols. Throughout their history they kept on fluctuating between worshiping God and worshiping idols.
God, however, remained faithful to His covenant, in that He always wanted to love the Israelites and to take care of them. He made provision after provision for them to return to Him and worship Him as the One true God, but they kept on prostituting themselves by worshiping the idols / gods of other nations. Because the Mosaic covenant was a conditional covenant it meant that God could only respond according to the wording of the covenant when the people obeyed and fulfilled their part.
In this passage God told Jeremiah to remind the people of the covenant that He made with them, and that they would be cursed if they would not obey it. “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt”.
How faithful Is God, that after so many hundreds of years He still wants to have that covenant relationship with Israel, even though they had consistently turned their backs on Him by not obeying the covenant? This shows us that God loves us no matter how much we turn our backs on Him, and that He is forever seeking to bring us back into right relationship with Him. What an awesome God!
“‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” God had already made the provision for the Israelites, and all they had to do was to obey the covenant so that God could give them what He had promised.
How many times have we asked God for things and that we know that He’s able to give to us, but we don’t receive them? From this passage and many other passages we know that God is willing to provide for us. But, are we willing to be obedient to Him, and keep our promises to Him so that He can pour out His blessings upon us?
As we examine our relationship with God and where we are in our lives today, are we living the super abundant Life that Jesus promised? If we are not, is it because Jesus lied or is it because we are not being faithful to God? God never changes so if the promise / covenant / commitment is conditional, then are we obeying our part of the covenant?
Today I have asked a lot of questions with the intention of stirring us to think deeply on our commitment to God. It is my hope that if we find ourselves in the position of the Israelites, of being far away from God and not obeying His covenant, that we will repent and begin obeying once again! As we look at our lives are we willing to Redirect Our Focus from the things of this world back to God?
Are you ready once again, or for the first time, to surrender and submit your life to God?
If you are in the position of Jeremiah who has been given this message by God, are you willing to go to others and challenge them to return to God? Jeremiah said, ” And I answered and said, “So be it, Lord .” The people of this world that have drifted so far away from God. They are not focused on the things that will give them eternal life. They need to be reminded of how they can live life here on earth so that they can then live eternally with God. Today, you may be the one that God is calling and appointing to bring others back into right relationship with Him. Will you accept this calling?
Prayer: Father God, we are all guilty of sinning against You. In so doing we have severed our relationship and fellowship with You. We repent of our sin Lord. We see that You have not given up on us, and You are willing and ready to accept us back as Your children. Father God we commit to obeying Your commandments and from this moment onward we surrender and submit all our lives to You. Help us to remain true to You we pray in Jesus’ Name, amen.
