Don't you hate it when you think of that great come back line after the moment has passed. Not that I'm supposed to have a spirit of sarcasm about everything, but it sure is nice to be quick witted when the moment calls for it. So I've got to say that I do love it when I notice a moment of God whipping out a great come back line! Today as I read Jeremiah, the prophet stressed to King Zedekiah the importance of being faithful to God's covenant. In particular, the releasing of any Hebrew people from slavery... or contracts of servitude after seven years. That was the maximum allowable time that a debt was allowed to be paid through human service. And since the time that God had delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He was adamant that they be slaves no longer. And it seemed that Zedekiah had listened to the Lord, and that every man should let his Hebrew slaves, male and female, go free, so that no one should make a slave of a Jew, his brother. So all the princes and all the people who had entered into the covenant agreed that everyone would let his male and female servant go free, and that no one would keep them in bondage any longer; they obeyed, and gave them liberty and set them free. But afterward they backed out of the covenant and made the male and female servants whom they had set free return, and brought the male and female servants again into servitude. Jeremiah 34:9-11 AMP This, to be certain, angered the Lord! For it was direct disobedience. And He did not delay in His response. In fact, He quickly replied thus... Therefore says the Lord, You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed liberty to your brother and your countryman. Behold... listen very carefully, I am proclaiming liberty to you... liberty to be put to the sword, liberty to be ravaged by disease, and liberty to be decimated by famine, says the Lord, and I will make you a horror and a warning to all the kingdoms of the earth. Jeremiah 34:17 AMP Now, I'm certainly not in favor of all the death and dying part. But you've got to admit... as a parent, in fact, if punishment had to be given, God sure did it with flair. Using the very same word they would not afford others. Their disobedience was lacking liberty. So God gave it liberally... Liberty of the sword. Liberty of disease. Liberty of famine and horror and warning to all. Talk about a come back. Talk about timing. But let us not lose sight, of the deeper concept. LIBERTY here represents FORGIVENESS. And how often have I come to a place of giving this liberty, this forgiveness to someone who has hurt me. And then turned around, and picked up the hurt again. Its like I backed out on my promise, or like these people, a covenant, and put them under my hand of control again. Leaving them still slaves to my hurt. But it who is really the slave here? God was longing back then to free His people. Just the same as He longs to free our hearts today. From unforgiveness, pain, hurt and past. Let us not be those who back out on our promise. For even as we stand today we should recognize what God has given to us... even in this country a great deal of liberty. Why we even have a statue named for such. It represents... freedom from arbitrary control, freedom from foreign rule, freedom from interference, restriction, captivity, confinement and restraint. So why do we choose in our own lives to live with hearts bound to the slavery of unforgiveness? Let us stop today and take a breath. Let us pause a bit to appreciate LIBERTY... given by God, a choice of the heart. Freed from sin and shame. Freed from death and dying. And let us give LIBERTY as it was given to us, freely! And let us never be like those who get so big headed that we think we can just take away the rights of others... even the right to believe as we choose. Word of God train me, today To humbly be a servant who gives liberty. To be obedient and faithful to walk in liberty. Lord... may I always be thankful for the price You paid that gave me the ultimate liberty... eternal salvation of my soul.
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January 2019
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