Jeremiah?

SUN., DEC. 10, 1989, 6:35 AM
FARM, STUDY

You know that you have been unsuccessful in reading and appreciating the prophesies of My servant of old, Jeremiah. I raised him up to be a prophet of bad tidings. It was a time when My people need to be told that God was a God of justice and would smite them for their sins. This sort of voice must be heard in every era, and some are called for this. Others, like you, have a counter message: that God is a God of mercy, that He forgives, and that He adapts, in myriad ways, to human actions.

6:50 / 7:04

Jeremiah told of dire consequences for human action. You just had a “Jeremiah experience.” You considered that the bottles of soda for the punch today, left out overnight might have frozen and been ruined. You had to leave this writing and investigate. There was no tragedy. But possible bad news did get your attention. Jeremiah’s messages got attention, and I want the attention of those I have chosen.

Now read Jeremiah 37. The king respects Jeremiah as a prophet, but does not like the prophesy he brings from the Lord God. He says that the Chaldeans will return and destroy their city. Your Jeremiah-like message is that there shall be consequences from the size of the human population, from wars, and from too much production. I did not specifically energize the Chaldeans. I just said they would be viciously victorious. I am not causing these environmental changes. I simply tell you of the consequences that await. I shall not intervene in general… only in special individual cases. You shall not be put in prison for what you say. But your message shall not be well received in your dominant culture. Science will find a way. (You see that you have read this far, at least once.)

Read now Jeremiah 10. The Lord, through Jeremiah, is criticizing the building and worship of idols. These are not comparable to the Lord God, yet people look to them. You have your gods – production, sales, credit, new products for the “good life.” The focus on these is not pleasing to the Lord your God. For their consequences damage the earth which I created. And so it shall be that consequences abound. I am interested only in you humans turning to Me… not in fear, not to escape harm, but in love and appreciation. Finish this after the celebration today.

7:35 / 5:17

As the Scriptural passage from this morning’s lectionary evidenced, even as Jesus I had harsh things to say about the fate of some humans. Today’s Scripture quoted John the Baptist, and Jesus was gentler than John, but not always meek and mild. John foresaw a winnowing, with some coming out as useful, heavy grain while others would be cast aside as chaff to be burned. This is true for any one life, I tell you. But then I add that there are always more “chances.” The basic Scriptural conclusion is that I rail at disobedience and lack of commitment, at wasting the opportunities in life to serve Me and your fellow humans. At the end of an earth life I have a time with each of you (Yes, I can do that), and together we answer the question, “What did you do with your life?” Your human tendency to lie, make excuses for yourself, and misrepresent is gone, so we communicate and decide on cosmic, heavenly honesty. Some are worthy of Jeremiah’s wrath and scorn. And they know and appreciate this. There are punishments, but the fundamental direction of life is “onward”. What next?

We also “sit down by a heavenly stream” before any one of you is to be born and ponder the question, “What are you going to do with this life?” You are very dimly aware of such a pre-birth direction, which guided you into your profession, kept you in it, helped you move to where you should be, and sustains you as one comfortable in and excited about your teaching opportunities.