They will not answer you

"Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you." Jeremiah 7:27

Jeremiah's call was not from Israel. Jeremiah's call was not from Judah. Jeremiah's call was not to be popular. Jeremiah's call was not to preach a message that would be accepted and followed. Jeremiah's call was from the LORD, to speak His Word to His people. Here the LORD tells the prophet that his work will not be very "profitable," that is, many people will not obey or answer what he has to say.

"Gee, thanks a lot, God," I can imagine Jeremiah saying. "Thanks for nothing. You call me to this ministry, don't allow me to even marry, put me into situations that humilate me, all this for what purpose? The people that I suffer all this for aren't even going to obey or answer."

But, the redemption of the people was not Jeremiah's job; that's Jesus Christ's job. The redemption of the people is based solely on the gracious work of the LORD Almighty and not the proficiency of Jeremiah's preaching or the answer that he elicits from the people. Just as Jeremiah's call is from the LORD, so also his accountability is to the LORD and the LORD alone will measure his success.

So it is with each of us. "It is impossible to argue someone into the Kingdom of God," is what a college professor once told me. It's not belief or knowledge that saves; even the demons know God and believe in Him. What saves people is faith, faith which the Holy Spirit alone can work. Our job is not to save people; our job is to preach the message given to us by the LORD.

Nevertheless

"Nevertheless in those days," says the LORD, "I will not make a complete end of you." --Jeremiah 5:18

I had an interesting conversation with a trainee this morning as we were running. He came alongside of me and told me how his parents had been to New Orleans to see the destruction left behind in the wake or Hurricane Katrina. He then wanted to draw a comparison with Sodom and Gamorrah, asking if God was destroying a city that had a sinful reputation just as he had done in Genesis.

The people of Israel were facing the same kinds of destruction. Jeremiah's words were to be like fire consuming the dead, dry wood of Israel. Nations were to come calling with quivers like tombs, raining down death and destruction. These nations would scavenge up every crop and scrap of food, leaving the Israelites without a harvest and putting their daily existence at risk.

Nevertheless. In this one verse, there is one word that changes the whole focus. Nevertheless. Even though all of these things will certainly happen, nevertheless, there will be hope; this will not be your end.

The purpose of these disasters, Katrina and the invasion of Israel, was not to judge and punish. I believe they were to re-focus God's people upon Him. Each of these disasters would remove any other props, supports, and false hopes that the people had and, hopefully, bring them to rely on the LORD. His promise is that this will not be the end of Israel. I would daresay this is not the end of New Orleans. Nevertheless, all these things will happen anyway.

As I shared all this with the trainee, I realized what a joy it would be to be a pastor in New Orleans right now because the spiritual soil must be as fertile as the silt that flows down the Mississippi River. I'm praying God's deepest blessings on the men and women who will speak of Christ's love and support to a people who have nothing else right now.

Return

"If you will return, O Israel," says the LORD, "Return to me; and if you will put away your abominations in my sight, then you shall not be moved." --Jeremiah 4:1

How can a person return to a place he has never been before? The verb "to return" presupposes that there was a time previous when one was at the spot to which one is "returning." I was there once, I left, I return.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, the LORD is calling Israel, and me, to return...if I want to. Immediately I notice that he doesn't want me to come on my own for the first time...for I believe that I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or come to Him. He does not call me as a sinner to leave my life of sin and come to Him. No. As a sinner, He comes to me with His holy and life-giving blood. Through the work of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Word of God, the LORD, in the person of Jesus Christ, goes to the unregenerated.

BUT we still stray, for the regeneration is not yet complete. And so God dispatches the prophet to go the people and ask them to return, to come back to that place where He is, that place that was promised to them. So, for us, those who are regenerated through the Holy Spirit, this word of "return" is for us.

In addition to this blog, I keep a paper journal as well. I just like the idea of having something a little more private and secret, although I would let anyone read it. As I was writing the thoughts above into my journal, I started to "return" to the previous pages. Pages of dreams, frustrations, hopes, and plans. It would seem that the old joke is true: "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans," because so many of my dreams from two years ago have changed.

To be honest, the one thing that is missing is the presence of God in my life right now. This word from the LORD is not so much about my actions and living the Christian life as it is about taking the time to return to him in prayer and meditation. Some of the thoughts and ideas that I had were amazing...and I haven't had one of those in a long while...until today. Today is the day for me to return to the LORD in the hopes that I will not be moved.

According to His Heart

"And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding." (Jeremiah 3:15, NKJV)

According to the Maxwell Leadership Bible, there are four skills needed for a "shepherd after God's own heart." They are:

• Attitude Skills: a servant's heart both positive and persistent.
• People Skills: the ability to relate to others: communicate, delegate, motivate, confront, etc.
• Equipping Skills: the ability to train and develop others for service.
• Leadership Skills: the ability to cast vision, plan strategy, direct teams, and empower others.

As I look at those four skills, the one area I am weakest in is Attitude Skills. So often, I get stuck with the people who are negative and wanting to give up. "Chaplain, can you talk to this Soldier and fix him?" So much of my day is spent trying to "fix" trainees who want to stay broken. As the old saw says, "It's hard to soar with the eagles when you're surrounded by turkeys."

So, how do I go about improving my attitude? I guess it has to start with the choices that I make each day. Choosing to be positive, optimitistic, and up-beat. Rather than wallowing in people's misery, I need to start finding the good things in their suffering and misery. Maybe it starts with one key question: "With all this crap happening in your life, how have you gotten this far?" Maybe this will help me to see the positive things in their lives and be a way for me to improve my own attitude. One thing I know for sure, cliches and axioms aren't going to work. I need to overhaul my approach.

Do Clothes Really Make the Man?

"Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
Or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me days without number."
--Jeremiah 2:32 (NKJV)

Is the old addage true? Do clothes make the man? Or does a person make his clothes? Somehow, the Lord is drawing reference to the relationship between beauty and attire.

To hypothesize that we are the virgin and the bride who have forgotten the ornaments of the LORD seems egotistical to me at first. It would seem more likely that we should strive to be the ornaments of the LORD, a source of His boasting. "Consider my servant, Job," He says to Satan at the beginning of that book. The LORD boasts in the one who serves him as a young woman boasts in her new earrings.

But, what bride would consider walking down the aisle without spending months and months to find that one perfect dress, let alone consider walking around on that special day in not dress at all! No one would ever consider this. Yet, how many people do we know who walk around without the LORD each and every day. Sometimes we forget to "put on God" and instead grab whatever dirty, wrinkled old thing is laying on the ground closest to us. For some, they can't count the days since they last considered the LORD.

We need to think about what we wear, that is, our attitudes, actions, thoughts, feelings, and words. Keep in mind the words of the Apostle Paul: "For as many of you were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." In our baptism, we put on Christ to cover our sinfulness. But, we also put him on to show him to the rest of the world. Don't forget him.