Devotional on Jeremiah

2009 – Sam Houston Jones State Park – Lake Charles, LA

God takes being ignored personally
Jeremiah 5: Why don’t you honor me?
God’s question to Judah resonates: “Why don’t you honor me?” He’s blessed them, forgiven them, and protected them yet they refuse to look his way. Jeremiah says that the Lord wonders why they don’t look at all of it and ask, “How can we honor our God with our lives?” However, that doesn’t happen. Instead, we see God-insulting sin and rebellion. It’s no wonder the Lord’s sick of them! After all he’s done for them they’ve turned their backs on him and walked away. God’s response is to do the same. He’ll be the one walking away and they’ll pay a terrible price for their insulting attitude toward him. Frankly, this passage troubles me. It would be easier to skip ahead to more sunshine and bypass this gloom and doom. That, though, is the problem. I’d better listen to Jeremiah. God takes being ignored personally. He blesses us in many wonderful ways but he expects us to respond to that blessing by honoring him in our lives. I may not be able to influence the larger culture but I’d better take this stuff to heart. Beyond that, I need to use what influence I do have to remind people that God expects us to respond to his blessings and never take him, or them, for granted.
Take Away: The Lord takes being ignored personally.

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