March 5: CALLED TO A HIGHER STANDARD

“This is your lot, The portion of your measures from Me,” says the LORD, “Because you have forgotten Me And trusted in falsehood. Jeremiah 13:25

Jeremiah is the Old Testament prophet of whom we know the most. He was transparent and honest, never walking in craftiness. His emotional vulnerability was easily perceived. While his deep love for God and for his fellow Jews was stubbornly evident, he lived with courage that was built upon trust in God. As His ever-faithful appointed messenger, Jeremiah lived in the shadow of false accusations, severe abuse, and rejection.

Prophecies of Babylonian captivity were delivered for forty-plus years before the first wave of the Chaldean hordes arrived. Jeremiah’s conveyance of warnings from God, along with specifics concerning the sins of His people, were interspersed with visions, some of which reveal future end-time scenes of utter devastation (see 4:23-28; 25:33). A straight-through reading of Jeremiah’s book does not establish a chronology; he often refers to past events, repeats sermon topics with different wording, or reveals a vision yet future. But the effect is profound. It becomes crystal clear that surrender to God’s will is the only way to avoid calamity.

Everyone who professes to follow the LORD is called to a standard that is higher than the highest earthly or human standard. The light of this call continually produces a series of crises. When God’s man or woman sins against our holy, merciful God, an immediate invitation comes from the Holy Spirit: confess the error in sincere repentance. Confess and forsake. Every time, this requires overcoming pride and self-defense. A broken heart and contrite spirit are readily accepted by Him. The other crisis in the course of living for the LORD comes when you are confronted with a divine call to move onward in faith, farther than your previously accepted beliefs. The spiritual challenge to grow is likely to produce a crisis due to our resistance to change.  

For King Jehoiakim of Judah, opportunities for repentance and spiritual growth were both rejected. Upon hearing the words of God read to him, the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth (36:23). Disposing of God’s standard is not that easy. The word of God is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). To believe that this word can be cast aside is to trust in falsehood. This world is a minefield of things that can cause us to forget God. He lovingly reminds us: “Remember…”* When one of God’s saints makes a determination of the will not to forget God, that person finds—to their joy and delight—that they cannot forget Him!

As for Jeremiah, suffering under the scorn of his countrymen, he once said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not. Jeremiah 20:9

*Exodus 20:8; Numbers 15:39; Deuteronomy 8:2,18; Psalm 103:18; 111:4; Isaiah 46:9-10; John 15:20; 16:4; 2 Timothy 2:8; Revelation 2:5; 3:3