Jeremiah 7

I am reading Jeremiah 7. What stands out to me in this book, and just like in Isiah is just how many chances God give them. He tells them over and over again, giving warning after warning. I do that sometimes when I really dont want to have to discipline my kids, hoping that they will just be obedient. This really shows me just how much he cares for us. He does not want to punish us, or let us suffer our horrible consequences but he does because he loves us. The chapter starts out 1 The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. This means that hes already given a message. He says: 3 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. So even after repeated disobedience he still says if you just listen to me, you can stay in your land. So with all the sin, and disobedience he wants the people to do right, and to listen but they are just so hardheaded. Then in 5 and 6 he says: 5 I will be merciful only if you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds and are fair to others; 6 and if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; and if you stop your murdering; and if you stop worshiping idols as you now do to your own harm. So even in his warning its all about concern for us, hurting ourselves and others by our sin. 9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!" -- only to go right back to all those evils again? God knows that we are flaky, undependable, and easily distracted but he still warns us repeatedly. Then even his warnings are because they hurt each other with the evil they commit. Its so hard to read sometimes because with all the "intelligence" we have now, and how far we are from these people we still have these issues. We still sin, we still disappoint God, but instead of just getting rid of the whole earth God is so patient with us. Then in 9 God just lets it all out and he expresses his sadness for our actions. Jeremiah 9 1 Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep forever! I would sob day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered. 2 Oh, that I could go away and forget them and live in a shack in the desert, for they are all adulterous and treacherous. 3 "My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. And they only go from bad to worse! They care nothing for me," says the LORD.

2 Chronicles 32

7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 2 Chronicles 32:8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” I just love this. I think one reason I love it so much is because being strong is just not me. So I love to read the Lord will fight for us. It actually reminds me of what Moses said when God split the red sea. In Exodus 14:14 Moses says: The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." I really love that God fights for us, because I dont consider myself in the least a fighter so the idea that God will will do the fighting makes me feel so much better. I know some people like a fight or a challenge but not me. Hezekiah seems like such a man of God. The way he went and tore down all the idols and pole, and basically forced the people to serve only God. I wonder if sometimes that is what it takes to force people to trust in the Lord. I really love this part. All that time the King is talking mess, and saying what they would do and then God just annihilated them. 2 Chronicles 32:20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. 21 And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword. I wondered about this part.30 It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. 31 But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart. I guess I really dont know what it meant. So he did good, but then God left him to test him. Did that means he started to do bad? Was God angry with him now? Did he somehow not acknowledge God? I mist find this out but its not in this chapter. 2 Chronicles 33

2 kings 20-21

This is interesting to me. It seems like God really does hear us, and actually changes his plans because of how he loves us. Exodus 32:12-14 This reminds me of when God was going to kill the Israelite and he didn't because Moses asked him not to. 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. God could have totally killed them all off, but Moses asked and he did not. Many times I have read how God changes plans due to the prayers of his children. In this chapter it seems that its time for Hezekiah to die but he does not want to. I mean heaven sure does sound a whole lot better to me than living back, then or now for that matter but he was not ready to die. So God healed him, and gave him 15 more years. Here is the conversation: 2 kings 20:2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 "Remember, O LORD, how I have always tried to be faithful to you and do what is pleasing in your sight." Then he broke down and wept bitterly. 4 But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the LORD: 5 "Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the LORD. Its amazing to me, just how much God cares. I guess I just never realized just how flexible that God can be with his children whom he loves. He let him him live the extra years and then he died and his son Manasseh became king for the next 55 years but didn't serve God, and here comes the those dreaded bales and Asharah poles. In 2 King 21 its always disturbing the horrible things that happen to children when things are out of order and people turn from God. 2 Kings 21:5 He built these altars for all the forces of heaven in both courtyards of the LORD's Temple. 6 Manasseh even sacrificed his own son in the fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the LORD's sight, arousing his anger. Massasseh died and his son Amon became king at 22 years old. I guess his father didn't tell him about God, because he carried on the same things his father did, and reigned for two years. Then his servants killed him and his son Josiah became the next king.

Isaiah chapter 1 A message for rebellious Judah

Visions that Isiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah, and Jerusalem. He saw these visions when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. Basically it seems like God is angry with his people because the people of Judah have rebelled against him. Isaiah 1:3 " Even an ox, knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its masters care- but Israel doesn't know its master. My people dont recognize my care for them." He describes these people as: evil, loaded down with guilt, corrupt children who have rejected he Lord. He asks Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your heart is sick, you are battered from head to toe, covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds, without any bandages or ointments. Your country lies in ruins, and your town is burned. Forefingers plunder your fields before your eyes, and destroy everything they see. Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned like a watchmen's shelter in a vineyard, like a lean to in a cucumber field after the harvest( I wonder what that even is), like a helpless city under siege. Isaiah 1:11 What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?" I am sick of your burned offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the bulls of lambs and goats. When you come to worship me, Who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Its almost as if he is saying that the attempts as holiness are not even coming close. The fasting, the sacrifices, the gifts and the meetings, prayers, and celebrations of the new moon mean nothing. He says Isaiah 1:16 Wash yourselves and be clean! Stop sinning, give up your evil ways, learn to do goo, seek justice, help the oppressed, and defend the cause of the Orphans, fight for the rights of widows. Then he gives hope, one of the things I noticed in Isaiah is that he says so much to show how much we need God, and how even with our best intentions we fall short with sacrificing, fasting, and whatever we think we are doing to please God. Then he gives us hope. He says in Isaiah 1:18 Come now, lets settle this," Says the Lord "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Though they are red as crimson. I will make them white as wool. 19. If only you will obey me, you will have plenty to eat. But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the Lord, have spoken!" I just love how God always turns it around and lets us know that if we obey, and turn from our wicked ways he will welcome us with open arms. Unfaithful Jerusalem