Jeremiah 48:31-39. More of the message to Moab. As we have seen in the last tow posts there is a lot of detail here. Detail that is beyond our knowledge today, we don’t know where all of these places are. But as I said yesterday, God knows, and today we see just how much he cares.

In verse 31 we see God crying for Moab because of her failure to really live for him and because of the destruction that is coming to Moab. IN verse 32 we are reminded of the influence that Moab has had on the world around them, if they had been a plant their vines would have reached “across the sea”. In verse 32 God is “weeping”.

But in verse 33 we see that God is allowing all of this to happen to them. In verse 35 he says he has made an “end” of the Moabites, and again we are told why; because they had followed and honored fake gods. High places were literally “high places” where they would go to make offerings to their fake gods. It is pretty interesting that they thought that they had to get up high to get to God. In Genesis 11:4 early generations of mankind thought that they could build their way up to God. In 1 Kings 18:24-38 while the false gods could do nothing God was able to reach down from heaven and burn the sacrifice in spite of how wet is was. We have the one true powerful God as your friend. In verse 36 we again see God crying. He sees the guys shaving their heads (a sign of great sadness) and the whole situation make’s him sad too.

In verse 39 we see the results of the disobedience, everyone is pointing at them and laughing. But God is not laughing.

We need to realize how serious God is about us and how much of a problem our disobedience and rebellion are (sins). Our sin separates us from God forever. We need to deal with our sin the only way that will work, we need to tell God about it and ask for his help in overcoming . Jesus wants to “clean” or sins away and let the Holy Spirit (See “Three or One?”) live in us to help us honor God more and more. I don’t like it that God cries but I do like it that he cries over our sins, and that he does something about it too.

God thank you for loving me and caring. Thank you for acting too. Help many people see and know you.

Jeremiah 48:18-30. Yesterday we started to read a message from God through Jeremiah to the Moabite people. We learned that we life is about more than here and now it’s about eternity. We learned that God takes it very seriously when we distract others from the truth about him. The Moabites weren’t a big radical push tier weight around group of people but they were luring Israelites away from the one true God; a situation that could leave many of them out side of God’s love and protection for all eternity. Today we continue reading the message to the Moabites.

Remember that we don’t know where many of the places mentioned in this message were. But they were real places and God knew where they were and what was going on there. Remember, also, that one of the big problems was pride, these guys were proud to be Americans Moabites. In verse 18 they are basically told to “get over themselves” and have a seat in the dirt. Some Bible experts think this is talking about what often happens to prisoners who have just lost their battle. They are set down in the dirt or wherever waiting to be taken captive to wherever the winning army wants them to go. Notice in verse 24 that the destruction was everywhere, near and far. As I said above God sees what is going on in each city but he is also big enough to affect the whole nation (and more).

In verse 25 Moab’s “horn is cut off and their arm is broken”. Both were symbols of power and that power had been taken away. In verse 26 the reference to being drunk is probably not about literal drunkenness, but it uses the stupid, powerless, disoriented way people are when they are drunk to describe how God wants the people to feel. And the reason is given in that same verse, “they have become arrogant or magnified themselves” in comparison to God. The people were basically strutting around saying, “I’m the man (or woman) or that Chemosh was the God.” Chemosh isn’t god or God and no one certainly is “the man “ if we mean by that that we are the ones in control.

In verses 27-30 we see a picture of Moab’s prideful attitude. It seems that whenever Israel had a bad time that Moab would sit back and laugh. Now it was their turn to suffer . In verse 29 God tells us that he has heard of the pride of Moab but it won’t do them any good, Moab’s big talk has gotten them nowhere. In fact that was where they were going to live, no where in particular.

I like it that God is close by but also powerful. I also like it that he is involved in dealing with our pride or any other bad attitude that we might have. I especially like it that God gives us more than one chance, “come down”. But I have to remember that there is a limit and end of the chances God gives, then we need to look out if we have not responded to him and his solution, Jesus.

God thank you for coming after us so hard. Thank you for chasing me down and saying, “Sir you keep dropping your ticket to heaven.” And I especially like it that this message is so ling and addressed to Moabites”. All that tells me how much God cares and how serious he is at getting us back.

Thank you God for hunting me down and lovingly offering eternity with you.   Help me remember how serious all of this is. Help me honor you with all that I am. Thank you for loving me and making me a part of your forever kingdom.