The Re-Creator

You probably have seen some of these TV shows where dilapidated houses are gutted, rebuilt and refinished to become attractive and updated homes.  They always start with lots of footage of the "before" image of the home.  It's fascinating to watch the process of reconstruction.  Often they find hidden challenges behind walls and under floors that make the re-construction problem different and greater than new construction.  But there seems a special satisfaction to bringing new life to an old dwelling.  It's almost like a "born again" experience we would have with the Lord.  This morning, as I continued reading in Jeremiah, I thought I detected a delight that the Lord has in rebuilding, renovating and restoring our lives in a similar way.  The people of Judah had turned away from God and worshiped idols and the Lord ultimately responded by having another nation carry off those people to be captives.  He also saw to it that Jerusalem and the Temple were razed..totally destroyed.  But God didn't give up on His people.  In fact He instructed them to plant the ground that they lived on in Babylon and to grow their families.  He even encouraged them to seek for the prosperity of Babylon, because that would translate into "trickle down" benefits for the captives, too.  We know our Lord as the Creator of the Universe.  He seems to delight in Re-Creation just as much!

 

Jeremiah 30:⁸'It shall come about on that day,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves.

 ⁹'But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
    ¹⁰'Fear not, O Jacob My servant,' declares the LORD,
         'And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
         For behold, I will save you from afar
         And your offspring from the land of their captivity
         And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease,
         And no one will make him afraid.
    ¹¹'For I am with you,' declares the LORD, 'to save you;

 

(and He is with us as well!)

 

Blessings,

Rob Smith

all in the spelling

When I was young I remember a school assignment to list all the homonyms I could come up with (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings).  I loved the challenge and came up with quite a list.  Today, as I was reflecting on the prophet Jeremiah (which we are surveying in the Mini Bible College) I thought of two interesting words that are homonyms: "grown" and "groan".  It occurred to me that there can sometimes be quite a bit of agony in the process of growth (growing pains).  In the case of Jeremiah, the people of Judah were told to prepare to be taken captive for 70 years because of their failure to turn from idol worship.  No doubt there was a lot of groaning in the course of being ripped away from homes and thrown to the servant heap of the Babylonians.  Jeremiah had also provided hope, though, that after 70 years of capitivity the people of Judah would be set free to return and rebuild Jerusalem.  Apparently the Bible makes it pretty clear that when they were restored after that captivity idol worship was no longer a problem (of course they still had other issues).  The Lord took them through a "groaning" process so He could also take them through a "growing" process.  I suppose He is doing the same today in our lives, because He knows that some of the most lasting lessons we learn are fired in cauldrons of difficulty.

 

Jeremiah 23:⁷ "So then, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' ⁸ but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' Then they will live in their own land."

 

blessings (may your groaning lead to growing),

Rob Smith

on things above

One of the few things we have control over is what we set our minds on...to think about...to consider.  Unsurprisingly, our minds tend to fall naturally to our basic desires.  Unfortunately, our basic desires are often more in line with unhealthy aspects of our nature than healthy ones.  We need some "lift" in our mental orientation to raise our thoughts to the grander view of heaven.  We are encouraged in Colossians, chapter 3 verse 2 to "set your minds on the things above, not on the things that are on earth".  There is some marvelous motivation to do this in verses 3 and 4: "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."  So we really ought to look up and reflect on the reality of God and His marvelous presence within our frames.  When we have come to know Jesus as savior and Lord we actually have "died" in one sense to the confines of an earthly life and doorways have opened to expand our vistas.  We don't leave the earth right away but now we can see all that is around us as the expression of our great Creator whom we also know as the lover of our souls.  Later in Colossians (3:23,24) we are given guidance that goes beyond what we think to what we do.  "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."  Thinking and Doing...that covers a lot of territory!  Blessings to you in your thoughts and actions today.

 

Rob Smith

atmosphere

We breathe an air we cannot see and fill our lungs repeatedly,

 

We look through air to see beyond, the heavens beckon..the stars look on,

 

We feel the air we cannot see that blankets us the seasons round,

 

We feel the wind we cannot see and then recall that we've been found,

 

By the One we cannot see but walks with us eternally.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith

a bird in winter

I was watching birds through my work window yesterday.  They were flitting about and landing on the young maple trees close to our building.  The leaves of those maples have finally let go and the branches are bare.  I thought about the challenge that birds face who live through the winter in our area.  The nights are cold and long, insects become scarce, food becomes harder to find, shelter is a challenge with leafless trees and since birds are warm-blooded they have to keep their body temperature up.  One strategy birds follow is to form flocks in the fall to help find food and protect against predators.  We, too, can find ourselves living through winter experiences (and it can happen anytime during the year)!  There are times when every aspect of life can seem difficult even though life has been much easier in the past.  Beyond food, shelter and basic necessities we also may feel like we are living in the bare branches of a winter tree emotionally and spiritually.  I think the Lord's provision becomes all the more apparent at these times.  He is faithful to feed and shelter us in our inner person even as we move through winter.  He keeps our "body temperature" up by the warmth of His presence and His voice in word and prayer.  When we live on branches without leaves the view of the sky is unblocked and we may turn to Him more readily.  It is helpful to flock with others who trust Him as well.

 

Job 12:⁷ "But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
       or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

 ¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature
       and the breath of all mankind."

 

blessings and thanks to He who made us, restored us and keeps us,

Rob Smith 

refusing forever

The people of Jerusalem, back in Jeremiah's day, had forgotten God and He was more than frustrated.  You can imagine how it galled Him that, after blessing them with the Promised Land for all their generations, they forgot how real He is and worshipped false gods, who could never give them anything.  He offers them one last chance in Jeremiah, chapter 7: ⁵ "For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, ⁷ then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever."

 

It occurs to me that we, also, exchange the forever place God has given us for temporary and very short -sighted satisfactions.  In His Son, the Father has caused us to dwell in the heavenly dimension.  We have come to realize that we are citizens of Heaven with lives that will extend to eternity and with purpose that transcends our brief stay on the planet.  Why would we embrace the same false and shallow "gods" that unbelievers share.  Why do we exchange forever for scraps?

 

blessings,

Rob Smith 

nations and you

As I read the first several chapters of the prophet Jeremiah this morning I was struck with the thought that God was disappointed with Israel and Judah, as nations, because, as individuals they had turned away from following Him and turned toward false gods...and this despite God's faithful deliverance and provision through many trials and across deserts.  He looked for even one individual in Israel who had not turned their back on Him, but without success.  As a consequence He was preparing the people for His judgment.  He had decided to move a fierce nation from the North down to destroy Jerusalem and to take the people prisoner.  He told them that if they wanted to worship the false gods of strangers He would give them the chance to become full-time servants of the ones who originated those gods.  It occurs to me that God is willing to move whole nations to ultimately move the hearts of individuals to return to Him.  He is the God of nations because He is the God who desires each of us, as individuals, to know Him...to love Him...to follow Him (the one true God).

 

Jeremiah 4:¹ "If you will return, O Israel,
       return to me,"
       declares the LORD.
       "If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
       and no longer go astray,

 ² and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
       you swear, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
       then the nations will be blessed by him
       and in him they will glory."

 

blessings,

Rob Smith