the eternal come back

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.