COOKIE CUTTER. Joshua 18:6-7; Jeremiah 29:11.

I used to watch my mom use a rolling pin to make a sheet of thin, flat cookie dough on wax paper. Then she stamped it with tin cookie cutters to cut out shapes: doughy little Christmas trees or stars or bells or stockings. She would bake them, spread icing on them, and—voila! Christmas cookies.

Cookie cutters are known for identical results. If you need 400 matching cookies, one cookie cutter will do it.

But we do not live cookie-cutter lives. Each is unique. Even your siblings will live lives different from yours. Consider adult siblings you know—their contrasting jobs, spouses, and children. God has unique plans. When Israel divided the Promised Land, the tribe of Levi had a unique experience:

“I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the Lord. But the Levites do not get a portion because their inheritance is the priesthood” Joshua 18:6-7.

If you look at maps in your Bible, Israel is divided into only 12 tribal lands. Though there are 13 tribes*, one received no territory. Instead, Levi received the priesthood. They are a tribe of priests and were to be spread across Israel. This is a sacrifice for Levi—but the blessings outweigh the sacrifice. As priests, their families will eat the meat of the nation’s sacrificial animals, their sons will do God’s work, and their children will enjoy opportunities of all kinds.

Sometimes our lives look like that: God may bless you with education and opportunities, yet you lack things your friends have. Why? Because we do not live cookie cutter lives. God loves you and has rich, blessed plans for you. Your life will be different from the lives of your siblings, friends, and family. Welcome it! Thank God for it! He knows what he is doing.

“I know the plans I have for you! Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11.

God, do your will! We trust you and we welcome your plans with hope and excitement!

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*Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons, but he gave Joseph a double-portion by taking Joseph’s two sons as his own, making the two a 12th and 13th tribe, but tradition simply refers to the nation as 12 tribes, probably because the tribe of Levi had no land of its own.

Today’s Word: Jeremiah 29:11; 31:3

For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope… I have loved you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 29:11; 31:3.

He has plans for us, and His love is forever.

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PROOF TEXTING. 2 Timothy 2:15; Jeremiah 28:15-17.

A Bible professor accused me of “proof texting” when I used a single verse to prove a point. Bible doctrine should be proven with many verses, across the entirety of scripture, from many writers, across the centuries, and from both the Old and New Testaments. Proof texting, by contrast, is when you argue a point but offer only one text as evidence.

For example, you might argue I can lose my salvation, and as “proof” you quote 2 John 1:8-9: “Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward. If you run ahead and do not continue in the teachings of Christ, you do not have God….” Does this text prove you can lose salvation? No. This verse is about losing rewards in heaven. In response, I would offer verses from all over the Bible to prove you CANNOT lose your salvation….

So why bring this up? Because God expects us to interpret the Bible correctly, to do the HARD WORK of studying and figuring things out.

“STUDY to show thyself APPROVED BY GOD, a workman who need not be ashamed, correctly handling the word of Truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15.

Tips on Bible interpretation:

  1. Know the textual context: the rest of the chapter and Book.
  2. Know the historical context: what was going on in Israel and the Gentile world?
  3. Consider original languages. You do not need to be a language scholar; instead, review many English translations. They have done the work for you. Your interpretation should be consistent with the SIXTY (60!) translations available on biblegateway.com.
  4. Consider church history. Godly men have been studying God’s word for 2,000 years. Does your view differ from history’s most Godly believers—even the ones burned at the stake for their faith? Then you are probably wrong. Today I read about the false prophet Hananiah. The Lord struck him down for preaching things that were not true. God takes His word seriously. Jeremiah 28:15-17.
  5. PRAY! Ask God for wisdom. It is HIS word, after all.

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I’ve Got Good News and Bad News. Jeremiah 29:5-14.

The bad news is, you have not received your number-one wish.  Most people have not.  Some wishes will not be fulfilled. All you can do is accept it and keep trusting the Lord. 

The Israelites were in trouble.  God punished their continued idolatry by sending the nation into bondage. 

Jeremiah’s message went like this: The bad news is, you’re not going to get your number-one wish: staying put. God is sending the entire nation into bondage. You will move 700 miles from Jerusalem to Babylon. Not only that, you will remain in Babylon for 70 years. Most of you will never see Jerusalem again.

The good news is, God will take care of you. You may lose Jerusalem, but life goes on. And you will learn something from being banished: you will never again be so easily led into idol worship.

Have you ever felt trapped in Babylon? You’re stuck in a low-paying job, for example, with an unreliable car and no way to improve the situation. Or your student loan debts are crushing your future. Or you’re lonely, unmarried, or unable to have children. What can you do? Sometimes the message God has for us is to accept our disappointment.

ACCEPT IT.

Accept life in Babylon and be thankful for all the good things He gives while you endure the bad.  Look at all the things the Israelites had to be thankful for while in Babylon:

“Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters … Multiply there; do not decrease … When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will … restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope … You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart … I will restore your fortunes … and restore you to the place from which I deported you” Jeremiah 29:5-14.

There was bad news from the Lord—a prayer to which He answered ‘No’—but there was good news too. 

Let’s COUNT THOSE BLESSINGS:

1)Houses,

2)gardens,

3)wives, sons, and daughters,

4)your descendants will return to Jerusalem,

5)God has good plans,

6)God promises a future and a hope,

7)you will find God when you seek Him wholeheartedly,

8)He will restore your fortunes and your homes.

God, help us to accept the difficult things You allow in our lives, and remind us to count our blessings every day.

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Clear Words are Better than Dreams. Jeremiah 23:28-29.

Have you ever had a dream from God? People are fascinated by the unusual: dreams, visions, prophetic words, speaking in tongues, etc. But the Bible tells us over and over that there is something more valuable than these things.

I had an interesting dream once. I was in a huge place filled with thousands trying to get on elevators. There was an elevator bank with six cars, and long, shoving lines to get on. Suddenly I knew this was the rapture. We were headed to heaven, and we had to be on those elevators! I spotted my mom and brother, and I didn’t see my dad, but knew he would be okay—but my buddy Chris was nowhere to be found. I panicked! Was it too late? Could I share my faith with him? Did I know enough to talk him through the steps of salvation? I slapped my back pocket, and realized that although I owned a pocket-sized Bible, it was not in my pocket. And where was Chris?! I ran around frantic! I couldn’t go to heaven without Chris!

Then I woke up, and I knew I needed to do something to get Chris into the Kingdom. But what? I had invited him to church before, but he wasn’t interested.

Not long after that (and without me knowing!), my dad went to Chris’s house by himself and said, “Chris, get dressed. You’re coming to the church with me tonight. Steven’s mother has planned a surprise birthday party for him and she wants you there.” Chris met all my friends that night—at a dress rehearsal for the Pageant—and soon he met the Lord, and from then on went to church with me every Wednesday, Sunday morning and night, and to Tuesday night Bible studies at Robb’s house.

I’m not sure what role the dream played—if any. And sometimes dreams and visions are like that. But there is something more reliable, more DEFINITE than dreams. Just as the Apostle Paul says to always prefer known languages over speaking in foreign tongues (1 Corinthians 14:5,19), the Old Testament says to give preference to God’s Word over dreams:

“The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has My word should speak My word truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain? Is not My word like fire, and like a hammer that pulverizes rock?” Jeremiah 23:28-29.

Dreams are whispy, like smoke, like talking in gestures to someone who speaks no English. But words are definite. Words give clarity. While a dream can be inspiring, its meaning can also be blurry, like trying to capture fog in your hand. Our feelings are the same way. You can go to an event and feel something positive, like love or peace, and tell yourself you felt Jesus. But the Bible says the devil himself masquerades as an angel of light. He fools everyone!

Thus, good feelings, and even dreams and visions, can prove UNRELIABLE. They are soft, like fog and smoke. But God’s word is clear and firm and as hard as a hammer that shatters stone.

Finally, God says in verse 28 that dreams are like straw; the Word is like grain. Have you seen how the horses walk away from hay when I bring them grain? They would eat grain 24-7 if they could. God’s word is delicious and NUTRITIOUS. Dreams are like a snack that gets you through the afternoon. But the Word is what you need to feast on!

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Dreams vs. the Word. Jeremiah 23:28-29

Which is better, a dream from God that requires interpretation, or the text of His Word that gives clear direction?

The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has my word should speak my word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain? Is not my word like fire, and like a jackhammer that pulverizes rock? Jeremiah 23:28-29.

Don’t pray for dreams and visions when the Bible has clear words available to instruct you. Feed on His word. Master the 66 books before you–then, perhaps, God will send you dreams and visions.

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STARDUST. Jeremiah 22:15-16.

In 1987, on a bus from Beaumont to Houston, I met Stardust, an aging Hippie who talked to me about God. He was intoxicated by the false notion that nothing can be known for certain. He challenged me.

“How do you KNOW that you know God?”

I remembered one verse:

“If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments” John 14:15.

“But no one can keep his commandments,” Stardust said, smiling. He thought he had me trapped.

“Nobody’s perfect,” I said. “But you do your best—and God knows your heart.”

After 90 minutes, I said goodbye to Stardust in Houston, having made no visible progress. He engaged in such conversations purely for entertainment. (He would no sooner reveal his true heart to me than his true name.) But I learned something from that conversation: if you know God, it will change your ACTIONS, not just your beliefs. If it does not show in your actions, then you don’t know Him.

John sums it up as LOVE: “He who abides in LOVE abides in God, and God in him…. The one who does not know love, does not know God, for God is love” 1 John 4:16, 8.

Consider God’s rebuke of Shallum, evil son of King Josiah:

“Didn’t your father eat and drink and administer justice and righteousness? Then it went well with him. He took up the cause of the poor and needy, then it went well. IS THIS NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO KNOW ME?” Jeremiah 22:15-16.

Knowing God means obeying Him and loving people, but it also means caring for justice, righteousness, the poor and the needy.

And I must add one more verse:

“What does the Lord require of you, but to DO JUSTICE, LOVE MERCY, and WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD?” Micah 6:8.

If you know God, you will obey Him. You will love people. You will seek justice, integrity, compassion for the poor, and you will be humble.

God, give us lives that honor You. May people see You in us. Remind us to act with LOVE, COMPASSION, and HUMILITY.

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Governance: How Will You Decide For Whom to Vote? Jeremiah 22:3.

America once elected a president who was an excellent speaker. He was good at explaining his beliefs about government, and would tell a joke now and then to keep you listening. People called him the “Great Communicator” and his enemies marveled at the way he could get his message out no matter how journalists from the opposing side tried to stop him. More recently, the nation elected a president who got his message past journalists by using social media to communicate. He too proved adept at getting his 280-character messages to the people, though (like most presidents) he gave little thought to principles of governance.

How can you decide how to vote if you never think about “principles of governance”?  Things like, What is the proper role of the government? What should voters look for in a president? What do we need from our local and national leaders? Should we raise taxes? Lower taxes? Fight crime? Reform prisons? Feed the hungry? Secure borders? Go to war on drugs? Legalize drugs? Protect the 2nd amendment? Repeal the 2nd amendment? –These are questions of GOVERNANCE.

The Bible has answers. 

Many passages of scripture guide us and have been guiding America’s leaders for centuries. Jeremiah asserts one of the most fundamental principles for any civilization when he tells the king to stop crime and promote justice.

“Administer justice every morning, and rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor” Jeremiah 21:12.

The Lord continues, using the prophet to inform the king of his duties:

“Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood” Jeremiah 22:3.

What are the keys in Jeremiah 22?

1)Create a working justice system so you can “administer justice,”

2)Stop robbery,

3)Be fair to foreigners, orphans, and widows and don’t take advantage of them,

4)Protect the innocent and don’t ignore the shedding of innocent blood (get justice).

This is not a comprehensive study—the Bible has hundreds of passages on governance—and if you study the Bible, God will show you the best way to run a city or a nation.

God, thank You for Your word which teaches such practical things and shows us how to operate a society. Help us love Your word more every day.

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Is it a Leap of Faith or a LEAN of Faith?

Remember the leap of faith scene in INDIANA JONES: THE LAST CRUSADE? Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) finds himself facing a chasm no man could cross, time is running out, he checks his book of clues, and realizes what he is looking at.

“It’s a leap of faith,” he says to himself.  John Williams’ violins swell.

“You must believe, boy,” says his ailing father played by Sean Connery, “you must … believe.”

Jones stares at the bottomless pit before him, weighing his options. Then slowly, finally, he takes that first step, seems to fall for just a second, and suddenly a previously invisible bridge appears and he walks across the chasm, safe—and in case we still have doubts, the music assures the skeptics among us that we have just seen Harrison Ford do something amazing: BE NOT UNBELIEVING, BUT BELIEVING.

People of faith have always loved this scene. What is a leap of faith? It’s stepping out into nothingness and finding it was not nothing, but something: a dramatic moment, a once-in-a-lifetime test, like Abraham, Isaac, the altar, the ram.

I don’t know about you, but my life rarely presents such difficult tests. Falling to my death is not an everyday risk.

What is far more common than a LEAP of faith is a POSTURE of faith. God has never asked me to step off the side of building or to step in front of a moving train. Once or twice He has asked me to do a difficult thing—to take a leap of faith.  But what God asks me to do nearly every day involves not so much leaping as a slight cant of the head. A lean-in. It’s a posture.  God is not asking me to step off the pinnacle of the temple, or turn stones to bread for that matter, but rather to bow just a little.

When I read the Bible and find a question I can’t answer, I have a posture that allows me to move forward with my faith intact. How? I give God the benefit of the doubt. I know that’s a ridiculous choice of words, as though I were sitting in judgment over the Lord of the universe. But isn’t that the sort of judgment in which we all engage every day? (When you realize people have spent their entire lives judging God, perhaps being judged by Him is not as unfair as some would argue—but that’s beside the point.)

The Bible is a huge collection: 66 books written over 1,500 years. This many years later it can’t possibly be an easy read. You will have questions. And faith often comes down to this: giving the scripture the benefit of the doubt. Give God the benefit of the doubt. When you have questions you cannot answer, or when none of the answers satisfy you, faith means choosing to trust God anyway.  It is a posture of faith and peace rather than a posture of doubt and anger. Lean-in to God and submit to His sovereignty.

I love this expression:

DON’T DOUBT IN THE DARKNESS WHAT GOD TOLD YOU IN THE LIGHT. 

Don’t let your doubts make you DOUBT-FUL.

You will face darkness. Choose faith in those little moments. Keep trusting that God has a plan.

Here is what God asks of me. Can I trust Him with unpaid bills? Can I trust Him with a new health problem? Can I trust Him with that challenge on the job? My response to these things is to take a posture that says Yes, I trust you.  I don’t know how you will do it, but I trust you. There is no leaping involved—no leaping required. Instead, I bow a bit, if not physically, then emotionally. It is a cant of the head that says, There are two choices before me.  But because I know God’s heart, I will side with Him. I give Him the benefit of the doubt. That is faith, for me.  Decades in, that is what it comes down to: not a leap of faith, but a posture of faith. Perhaps it’s not so much a leap of faith as a lean of faith.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him” Psalm 34:8.

God is good; I trust Him. When life gives me doubts, when pastors or leaders create doubts, when Bible reading brings doubts, when a need or a lack or a fear brings me doubt, I give God the benefit of the doubt. He is good. He loves me. So I trust him.

For me, life has required a leap of faith maybe a handful of times—but a posture of faith has been essential every day.

Faith means giving God the benefit of the doubt.

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God Will Bless You During Judgment. Jeremiah 17:7-8.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I listened to a Christian speaker who argued God was sending judgment beginning with Covid-19. It put me in a dark mood. But when I look back at 2020, I have to admit God blessed our family. Bad things happened, but we were not sick or hungry or impoverished. I did not miss a day of work. God blessed us in spite of 2020.

Today’s reading in Jeremiah says that is what He will do:

“The man who trusts in the Lord is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends out its roots toward the stream, it does not fear when heat comes, its foliage will remain green. It will not worry in a year of drought, or cease producing fruit.” 17:7-8.

The prophet writes this in the middle of a passage about God’s judgment:

“Their sin is written with an iron stylus, with a diamond point it is engraved on their hearts… They have set My anger on fire; it will burn forever” vv. 1,4.

And then God says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord” v.7. It is as though God says the rebellious “have set My anger on fire, it will never be quenched—BUT I will bless those who trust in Me.”

I don’t understand it all: there are times when God allows His people to suffer things far beyond what they might seem to deserve. But here He promises blessings during judgment. Maybe God uses blessings to show idolaters what they are missing by serving the wrong “god.”

Even if the future holds hard times for America, God promises to bless us. Look again at verses 7 and 8: God promises the faithful

1)blessings,

2) no fear of heat,

3) they will remain “green” (continued growth and creativity, maybe?),

4) no worry during drought,

5) a harvest of fruit that never stops.

Imagine that. Even during judgment, God promises blessings, freedom from fear, more growth, and more fruit for the Lord. Isn’t that amazing! Hang on to that, whatever the future brings!

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