- And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them. 16 When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” Jeremiah 36:15-16 – As you read this chapter the climax is in verse 23 where we see the king listening to the words the Lord had spoken to him and slowly cutting the scroll into pieces and throwing it into the fire. Such an action of defiance and disobedience was being displayed by the king that day, a total refusal to accept anything coming from the Lord as truth. What’s easy for us to do as we read this chapter is to be focused in on this blatant rebellious act yet miss the individuals who were willing to hear the words for what they were…words from the Lord. We are always going to have people like this king in our story, people who just reject anything and everything we tell them concerning Jesus. In our efforts to share the Gospel we can be so focused on them and their rejections that we miss the other individuals around us who are willing to receive what we are sharing. Choose then to have eyes for those who will listen, even if they be few. Those who reject may be many and may be the loudest, but make the effort to see beyond their rejections to the ones who are hungry for what God is offering freely to them. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3266
- As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. Jeremiah 36:23 – This is a sad reality that those of us who choose to share the Gospel must accept. Some will hear the life giving message of Jesus and yet respond to it as Jehudi did. It’s not because you shared it wrong or the message wasn’t good enough for them, they have just closed off their heart to it. Don’t let though the few that discard the message you’re sharing keep you from sharing. As we see in our passage some actually listened to what was said and as a result it may have changed their eternal destiny. Keep sharing. Even if a thousand discard it yet one listens and believes, it’s worth it to keep sharing. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 955
- As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. Jeremiah 36:23-25 – To summarize the story within this chapter, Jeremiah has a scroll written that shared the coming of an enemy nation and the desire was that when this scroll was read before the people they would repent and God would relent. Yet, we see here in these verses how the king responded to such a message from the Lord. Imagine cutting up God’s word and throwing it into a fire! How disgraceful of a way to handle the blessing of God’s word. Yet how truly different from this is just laying our Bible on a bookcase and not touching it for weeks? Sure, one involves fire and the other involves dust, but both equal God’s word not entering into our story. While I love that there is a small following to these devotionals, my hope is there is more of a reading of God’s word happening in your life than just the few verses I give. We have been blessed with the word of God, let’s be sure we are giving it space in our day to shape, guide, and remind us how we need. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2168
Daily DEVO 