Day 232: Glory in Knowing God
Jeremiah 9:1-9 Lies and deceit are incompatible with God’s will. Lying offends God, who is truth itself, and at the same time is an offense towards others. False and deceitful words breed mistrust, anger, and hatred. Another evil caused by insincerity and lying is disunity and conflict within families and societies. One of the many sins cited in these verses is the widespread deceit among the people of Judah. Withholding professional or privileged information out of respect for the privacy or reputation of others does not constitute falsehood. (CCC 2464-2470, 2475, 2482-2489)
Ch 9:10-22 The vision of Jeremiah caused him much anguish. Sin, pain, and suffering awaited this unrepentant people.
Ch 9:23-26 The reference to circumcision reflects the need for interior rectitude to match the external sign and ritual. Physical circumcision was meaningless if it did not represent a genuine, interior conversion, i.e., circumcision of the heart. Paul used similar terms to express this concept in several of his Epistles, most eloquently to the Romans (cf. Rom 2:25-29).
Ezekiel 39:1-29 Gog was defeated with God’s intervention, never to attack Israel again. This is an archetype of the victory of God reported in the Book of Revelation.
Ch 39:17-29 The restoration of Israel begins with a festive sacrificial banquet in which the participants-all living creatures-feast on the flesh and blood of the sacrificial victims. The Book of Revelation likewise describes a heavenly banquet, a “wedding feast of the Lamb,” in its eschatological description. The banquet is a sign of everlasting happiness and God’s sovereignty over all creation. (CCC 1329, 1344, 1402, 1612)
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
GOSH YOU GUYS!
Jeremiah, remember him?
We’ve been walking with him for the past 10 days or so….🤔
Jeremiah is the WEEPING PROPHET
Jeremiah 9:1, “O that my head were waters, and my eyes were a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”
He goes on and uses some very graphic imagery about tears
It’s really kind of beautiful
Jeremiah 9:18, “...let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush with water.”
There’s something about that that reminds us that this isn’t something for Jeremiah that he knows is wrong
It’s not just something he says, “You guys are doing the wrong thing.”
He doesn’t just want to be right
His heart is broken by this
It’s easy to be angry when we see INJUSTICE
And that is a proper response to it
BUT…
To allow evil to stir us to anger where we get mad at people for the evil they do
But it breaks our hearts
Because just like we know we are GOOD BUT FALLEN
Sometimes we don’t JUST let it break our hearts
Sometimes we just GET MAD
Of course anger ON ITS OWN is neither good nor bad
And sorrow ON ITS OWN is neither good nor bad
But oftentimes we recognize EVIL for what it is and it BREAKS OUR HEART
OR
We recognize EVIL for what it is and it GETS US ANGRY
The next step, of course, is to ACT ON THIS
NOT TO ACT IN ANGER
BUT ACT TO BUILD UP
Jeremiah is calling the people in the midst of his sorrow and anger
Jeremiah 9:2, “O that I had in the desert a wayfarers’ lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them!”
Basically he’s saying, “Yeah also, I’m not really happy with them. Yes I’m grieved by this evil I see. But also, I don’t want to be with them. I want to be away from them because they’re all adulterers, company of treacherous men.”
THIS IS GREAT
Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch are a great team
Jeremiah 9:3, “They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Lord.”
That’s very...what’s the word 🤔...POETIC
Jeremiah 9:4, “Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother…”
This is the REALITY
That when someone has revealed that they CANNOT BE TRUSTED
When a neighbor has revealed that their word or their promises are just as often FALSE as they are TRUE
THEN WE HAVE TO BEWARE OF THAT PERSON
EVEN IF THEY ARE OUR BROTHER
EVEN IF THEY ARE CLOSE TO US
EVEN IF THEY ARE OUR FAMILY
If they have revealed that they CANNOT BE TRUSTED
Jeremiah says, “Yeah the people around you, your family, your neighbors, as they turn away from the Lord and don’t repent, keep that in mind. Note that not in the sense of condemnation or judgment. But note that in the sense of if they are not going to be true to their promise to the Lord, if they’re not going to be true to their promise to the important people in their lives, then keep this in mind. They probably won’t be true in their promises to you as well.”
Not only is Jeremiah called to repent and weep over the coming destruction of Jerusalem
BUT…
Two verses at the end of Jeremiah Ch 9 are VERY POWERFUL
Jeremiah 9:23, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches…”
So all these things we put our trust in
OUR WISDOM
OUR MIGHT
OUR RICHES
Jeremiah 9:24, “...but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”
THAT IS INCREDIBLE!!
The one who glories in this, that you UNDERSTAND AND KNOW GOD
THAT BLOWS MY MIND!!
THAT BLOWS MY HEART OUT OF MY CHEST!!
WHAT A GIFT!!
What we’ve been doing for the last 232 DAYS is we have been allowing God to SPEAK TO US
We have been allowing God to SHAPE OUR HEARTS
We have been allowing God to REVEAL WHO HE IS
AND HERE IS THE RESULT!!
We get to GLORY in the fact, “No. Lord God you have REVEALED YOURSELF TO US. AND SO WE KNOW YOU!” (Not sure why Fr. Mike said “No” there....must be a Minnesota thing 😉🤪)
That is part of this INCREDIBLE INCREDIBLE COMMUNITY!!
A lot of us probably did not know God as well as we do now (Raise your hands if this is you!!! 😉)
God’s Word proclaimed to us SHAPES OUR EYES
God’s Word proclaimed to us SHAPES THE WAY WE SEE THE WORLD
God’s Word proclaimed to us SHAPES THE WAY WE SEE OTHER PEOPLE
God’s Word proclaimed to us SHAPES THE WAY WE SEE OURSELVES
And maybe above everything else....
GOD’S WORD PROCLAIMED TO US SHAPES THE WAY WE SEE GOD HIMSELF
His Word gives us what we call a BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
And maybe a BIBLICAL GODVIEW
Where we get to see God AS HE IS
That changes our hearts hopefully
On to Ezekiel
This is AFTER the destruction of Jerusalem
We talked about God’s promise with the DRY BONES
We talked about the two sticks in Ezekiel’s hand and God saying, “I’m going to bring them back.”
Today we have Israel to be Restored
There is something SO POWERFUL
Ezekiel 39:26, “They shall forget their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid.”
GOLLY!!
JEEPERS CREEPERS!!
GEE WILLIKERS (Sorry I don’t know how to spell willikers 🤪)
There are so many things about this world
So many enemies we may have inside of us and outside of us
Maybe physical enemies
DEFINITELY SPIRITUAL ENEMIES
But here is God saying, “Ok listen. You are all in Babylon. Jerusalem is destroyed. The Temple is destroyed. The Kingdom is destroyed. And I’m going to bring you back home.”
That’s the context, right? He’s talking to that peoples
We don’t want to take it out of contest
BUT…
By extension, we can also say that God is speaking to his people HERE
WE ARE LIVING IN THIS EXILE AS WELL
WE ARE LIVING FAR FROM OUR HOMELAND
THIS IS NOT OUR HOME
THIS IS WHERE WE ARE CALLED TO LIVE
BUT OUR HOMELAND IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN HEAVEN!!
AND YET…
We are not there
So we listen to God’s promise
Ezekiel 39:26, “They shall forget their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid.”
What’s the heart of that land?
What’s the heart of Heaven?
Ezekiel 39:28, “Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore; and I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour my Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.”
REMEMBER…
All throughout The Book of Ezekiel
ALL THE THINGS that God puts them through
EVERYTHING THAT GOD ALLOWS THE PEOPLE TO GO THROUGH
Whether it be DESTRUCTION AND EXILE
Or being RESTORED AND GATHERED BACK
ALL OF IT...
“Then they will know that I am the Lord their God. Then they will see my Holiness. Then they will KNOW WHO I AM.”
THAT IS AN INCREDIBLE GIFT!!
TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE LORD’S HOLINESS
TO KNOW WHO HE IS
AND TO BE RESTORED
EVEN IN THE MIDST OF EXILE
BECAUSE WE FIND OURSELVES IN EXILE IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
Starting tomorrow, we are going to have 8ish chapters in the Book of Ezekiel where we have a VISION OF THE TEMPLE
This is going to be Ezekiel’s vision that is a picture of “When you get back to the Temple, this is the way the Lord wants the Temple to be constructed.”
It’s an interesting thing because it was never constructed like this
It HAD never been constructed like this
It HAS never been constructed like this
Who knows?
MAYBE ONLY IN HEAVEN WILL IT BE CONSTRUCTED LIKE THIS
It’s going to be kind of like back in Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Numbers and all those CUBITS
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY CUBITS!!! I’VE MISSED THEM SO!! 🤪
We are going to be taking a blast from the past and get us some of them CUBITS for the next 8 Chapters
IT IS ALL GOD’S WORD
SO WE LET THE LORD SPEAK TO US IN HIS WORD THIS DAY AND EVERY DAY
INCLUDING TOMORROW!!
FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. We ask that you please watch over our hearts and our minds. Watch over what we say, the words we speak. Watch over the thoughts of our minds, and the desires of our hearts, Lord God. Because we know that we are good. We are made in your image and likeness. But we are also fallen. We are good but broken, good but fallen. And so we know that our minds are meant to know truth and our hearts are meant to love the true and the good and the beautiful. Our hearts are meant to love you. And our mouths have been given to us to speak truth and to never deceive, to never blaspheme, but only to build up, never to tear down. And so Lord God, we ask you to please touch our minds with your Spirit so we can be filled with your truth and understand truthfully. Touch our hearts with your Spirit that we can love as you love. And touch our mouths, Lord God, that we don’t pour out folly but we only say the words that people really need to hear, words that will help them. Maybe words that will help them, but also not only words to build up the people around us but also words that glorify the Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”