Psalm 8:1
My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Jeremiah 7. The Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind in verse 31:
Jeremiah 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
The fact that God’s people would burn their sons and daughters in the fire, an abominable thing, to be sure, burned shame in my own heart of my people who disregard their own children, and the children of others. However, what captured my heart was the fact that such evil never came into His. It was never once in the heart of God that His people should “burn their sons and daughters in the fire” (Jeremiah 7:31).
Along the still waters, I pondered. The word (John 1:1; 17:17) came to Jeremiah and instructed him to stand in the gates of God’s House and preach (Jeremiah 7:1-2). The Prophet was told to share God’s heart with His people.
Judah had strayed away from the true faith, and God was calling them to repent, warning them they could lose their place in the “Land” if they refused (Jeremiah 17:3-8). He rebuked them for their sins (Jeremiah 17:9-11). Warned them to remember what happened to their fathers when they offended and God destroyed His House in Shiloh, where His people pitched His Tabernacle, and set up His curtains (Jeremiah 7:12; see 10:19-21). He put them on notice that the same was about to happen to the House of God that Solomon built in Jerusalem, on Mt. Zion. He also reminded them that Israel (Ephraim) had been cast from His sight (Jeremiah 7:15), and that He will do the same to Judah (Jeremiah 7:16-17).
Then God explained what crossed the line for Him and provoked Him to drop His judgment upon the House of God. The parents led their children to follow them in their rebellion against the word of God (Jeremiah 7:18-23). For this reason, He rejected their vain worship and chastised them because they refused to heed His many messengers that He sent to them (Jeremiah 7:24-28).
Jehovah calls on His city, Jerusalem, to bear her shame and mourn for her reproach: “Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away”! He commanded them to go to their offensive “high places” to present their lamentation—their mournful dirge—their requiem, pounding their breasts in their funeral march. Go not up to the House of God in Jerusalem, He said, Go to your gods, go to your “high places” and lament: “For the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath” (Jeremiah 7:29; see Luke 21:23—Selah!).
Why? Read Jeremiah 7:30-31. What filled their hearts never came into His. The alienation between them could not be more complete. Take heed! Separation from GOD always begins in the heart. When our hearts become full of what could never enter His, when what is in our hearts cannot be entertained in His, we are separated from Him so that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2).
In the valley, I knelt in the shadow of His Cross and remembered the few gathered there who felt the shame of that Day. His mother, John, His beloved disciple, and faithful Mary of Magdala (John 19:25-26). Here, God’s Son was released into the hands of wicked men who killed Him on their “high place.” Jesus, dying on Golgatha, cursed, despised, and crucified by His own, could look over the City and see Olivet—where He will return and be reconciled to those in whose house He received these wounds (Zechariah 13:6). The hearts of many are revealed here, at Calvary (Luke 2:35). I asked the Lord to “search me, O LORD, and know my heart” (Psalm 139:23), and pleaded that He would identify in it anything that would not be welcomed in His. I confessed my sins and received His cleansing! (1 John 1:7-9).
At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace! Goodness and mercy followed close as we went together into His harvest!
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
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