Week 35 Devotions

August 27 - - “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins. There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume His enemies......It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:26&27, 31). The apostle Paul tells us that God allows us to keep on living in our foolish disobedience if that is what we choose. “God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired” (Romans 1:24). “God abandoned them to their shameful desires” (1:26). “When they refused to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done” (1:28). God is wise enough to know that forcing us to follow Him is not really a relationship at all. A relationship exists when two people feel a mutual connection and commitment to one another, and not when one does while the other doesn’t. Jerusalem’s destruction was not simply a result of God’s fury and anger. The leaders of the Hebrew nation, “deprived people of their God-given rights in defiance of the Most High. They perverted justice in the courts. Do they think the Lord didn’t see it?” (Lamentations 3:34-36). A lot of the burden of what happened to Jerusalem fell on the shoulders of Israel’s leaders. “Your ‘prophets’ have said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not try to hold you back from exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope” (2:14). The fact is, “the unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day.....The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for Him and seek Him” (3:22-25). When we know from the lessons of the past and from our own personal experience that God is wonderfully good to those who wait for Him and seek Him, and when we know from the lessons of the past and from our own personal experience that God is angry with those who refuse to acknowledge their sin, why would we even think about remaining in our sins? August 30 - - “Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness. We all make many mistakes, but those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way” (James 3:1&2). Teaching is a respected and honored profession. Those who teach have a powerful influence on those whom they teach. This responsibility should not be taken lightly; whether it’s in the church, school, home, work, or wherever. Many were the times when the problems of Israel could be traced to her problematic teachers or shepherds. Ezekiel was commanded to give the shepherds of Israel this message: “Destruction is certain for you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks” (Ezekiel 34:2). God’s shepherds were concerned only for themselves and neglecting their flocks. “So, my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd” (34:5). “You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve....”, therefore, “I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, along with their right to feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey” (34:9&10). God promised to one day send a Good Shepherd (34:11-24). Through this Good Shepherd, God would wash His people’s sins away. “I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command” (36:26&27). This Good Shepherd would place the desire within God’s people to want to follow God; not because they had to, but because of their love for Him, they wanted to (II Corinthians 5:14). It would be this Chief Shepherd’s sacrifice and example that would guide God’s new shepherds in leading and shepherding God’s flock (I Peter 5:1-4). How blessed we are to know Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. With the new heart he gives us (II Cor.5:17), may we teach and lead those around us in a way that pleases God.