The Shepherd does what is best for us

November 26, 2016

 Jeremiah 14:17-22

God refers to Judah as the virgin daughter of His people; she was watched over and kept from the pagan nations and their gods.  One who has been protected in a Christ-centered home and leaves that protection for what the world offers will be in a similar situation.  And like Judah, they have influence over others and the Father brings about discipline and often it seems harsh, but it is done out of love to return that one so that they and others are not lost forever.  I read that shepherds would often break the leg of a lamb that would not stay with the flock.  Now that may sound harsh, but it is not done to harm but to protect, for a young sheep has no ability to protect itself, only the shepherd can do so.  After breaking the leg, the shepherd would reset it and put wood splints and carry it and care for it, and after the lamb was well, it always wanted to be with the shepherd.

Often, you and I are like a lamb that has a mindset that we need no protection, we will graze where we like, and we look to the world’s pagan gods, and for a season they give us pleasure, and yet the Father’s love is too great to allow us to be destroyed. What seems harsh we will someday look back on as a loving kindness.  But we much like Judah must come to a place of confession where we cry out to our God.

Judah has a bigger problem, they know who God is, but they forgot who they were and now they fall back on God, you must remember who you are, God is not the problem.  There is a song we often sing in church, and it goes something like this: “So remember Your people, Remember Your children, Remember Your promise, Oh God, ” and that is a similar message sent to God by the people of sinful Judah.  It is not God who forgets His people, or His promises and once we acknowledge that fact and confess Dear Father your grace is entirely undeserved, we can then agree with the rest of the song; “Your grace is enough, Your grace is enough Your grace is enough for me.”

Yes, Judah agreed with God they were the problem, but they are not broken in spirit as a nation.  In fact, they came up with three reasons why God needed to fix things back in the old days, reminds me of so many who want to go back to the way it was in the U.S.A. after WW II.  First, it was God’s name they now were concerned with, but only after they had brought shame on it before the pagan nations.  Next, it was His throne in Jerusalem, and then the covenant He had made with them, the one that they broke, God has never broken a promise!

And then Jeremiah comes back to the rain, and a clear understanding that only God can bring rain, He is not required to do so, and the little gods they and we worship cannot bring rain, and yet we often run to them.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice