JEREMIAH, LAMENTATIONS, & EZEKIEL

Today, I started reading in Jeremiah chapter 47 and read through Ezekiel chapter 9.  Here are some of the highlights: **In Jer. 51:50, it says: "... let Jerusalem come into your mind."  Here God is telling the Israelites to think about Jerusalem.  Meditate upon the city of their fathers, the city of God.  We too should let the things of God "come into our minds."  Think on these things is what we are admonished to do in Philippians 4:8.  **The Book of Lamentations is found between Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  It is called The Book of Lamentations of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah is lamenting over the city of Jerusalem and the destruction that has come her way.  He grieves for the city and the people of God.  Notice a few things I thought of just this morning as I read it: 1) The Situation-- Lam. 1:3 "Judah is goine into captivity.."  The land was taken captive! 2) The Sin-- Lam. 1:8 "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;"  There is always a reason for judgment, and their sin was the reason. 3) The Saddness-- Lam. 1:16 "For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water,"   Jerusalem is captive and Jeremiah weeps for her without stopping.  I wonder when we have wept over the sins of others, or our own sins for that matter.  We become so calloused to the sins around us because they are so abundant.  We ought to be sad, and not rejoice in the consequences of sin in the lives of others. 4)The Shock-- Lam. 2:15 "Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?"  David said one time:  "How are the mighty fallen!"  Here, Jeremiah says that the people look at this once great city with shock and disbelief.  Now it is in ruin. 5) The Solution-- Lam. 3:40,41 "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.  Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens."  This is always the answer.  Repent and ask God for His forgiveness.  We are to turn our lives around before He can bless us once again.  We cannot violate His laws and expect His blessings.  We cannot rob Him of tithes and offerings and expect financial blessing.  We cannot violate loving our mates and children and expect harmony in the home.  We cannot be at odds with other Christians and expect peace to prevail in our lives.  The solution is always to:  "Get Right With God!!" **Finally let me give just one thought from the first nine chapters of Ezekiel.  In Ezek. 3:5 it states that "thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel."  This reminds me that some missionaries do go to distant lands with different languages, but the rest of us believers are to be missionaries right here in America.  To people we know and do business with and associate with.  To the people that live in the cities around us.  We are to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all we can.  This is our mission, just as Ezekiel had a mission for the children of Israel.

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