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Follow your heart? That’s the advice everyone gives these days. Figure out your passions, your desires and go for it. But is this really wise? Do we really even know our own hearts? In reading Jeremiah, it’s obvious what God thinks of the inclinations of the heart.

“But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.” Jeremiah 5:23

“But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.” Jeremiah 7:24

Following your heart is not wise advice. The people of Judah to whom Jeremiah is prophesying don’t understand the judgment that is about to come upon them. They think they are safe because of their false prophets who prophesy a false peace. Jeremiah seems to be the only one who speaks truth.

In Jeremiah 16 the people are completely oblivious to the true nature of their own hearts:

“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?'” Jeremiah 16:10

How could they not know? Reading the history of Judah’s kings makes it obvious to us what they were doing. It makes me wonder what lurks in the secret corners of my own heart. Only God can search out those shady nooks and cracks.

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.'” Jeremiah 17:9-10

Don’t trust your heart. Instead, do what Jeremiah does. He gives his heart to the Lord who alone knows all things.

“But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you.” Jeremiah 12:3

Some observations:

• One good king does not guarantee the next one will be good. The generational faithfulness God stressed back in Deuteronomy is hard to accomplish.
• No matter how bad a king was, if they turned to the Lord, he showed them mercy. Manasseh is a case in point.
• Josiah’s example of repentance delayed the judgment of God for a time. And he continued in his reforms and his faithfulness to God all the while knowing that God’s judgment on Judah would come after he died.
• I am again struck by the intensity of language used to describe God’s judgment in Zephaniah. But again, that intensity of language is used in describing his desire to do good to his people.

“On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: ‘Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.'” Zephaniah 3:16-17

The mighty one who will come in judgment is also the mighty one who saves.

It’s always good to keep the big story of the Bible in mind when reading. Reading so much in one day has actually helped me see this grand story more clearly.

God is the central character of the story. He is orchestrating all the events and his purposes will stand.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11

God has a purpose and God has a people. And God’s purpose for his people is gloriously good. In spite of all the disobedience, sin and rebellion; in spite of God’s declarations of judgment on his adulterous people, God continues to woo and work for their good.

In Hosea, God’s people were pictured as the wayward prostitute but at the end of the book of Isaiah, there is this beautiful description of the future of God’s people as his bride.

“No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 62:4-5

The New Living Translation translates “Hephzibah” as “The City of God’s Delight” and “Beulah” as “The Bride of God”. The prostitute will receive a new name and be clothed in garments of salvation and robes of righteousness.

Here in Isaiah is a foreshadowing of the end of the story that will come to its culmination in Revelation where all of God’s people will be clothed in white and invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb.

I love the book of Isaiah and especially this section of it. There are so many words of encouragement in these chapters. Over and over God assures his people of their peculiar identity as his chosen people.

“I have chosen you and have not rejected you..” Isaiah 41:9

“I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1

“Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.” Isaiah 44:2

Jeshurun, by the way, is a kind of endearing nickname for the people of God. Think of that! God has an endearing nickname for his people.

Over and over, God also declares in these chapters that there is no God apart from him. Nothing, no one.

“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the Earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:22

“I am God, and there is none like me.” Isaiah 46:9

“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.” Isaiah 48:11

One of my favorite passages is in chapter 49. The people of God think God has forsaken them, but no!! No, no, no. God underlines this no with one of the strongest metaphors. A mother might forget the child nursing at her breast, but I will never forget you! You would think a mother could never do that, but just in case, just in case she does, I will never forget you.

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” Isaiah 49:15

There has been so much judgment lately in these readings but these chapters in Isaiah are such an oasis of compassion and grace from the Lord.

If God is truly the Sovereign Lord and Creator over all the universe, then any and every world power and world ruler is minuscule in size and insignificant in power by comparison.

So why does Israel go to Egypt for help? This should strike us as strange. Don’t they remember where they were liberated from? Isn’t Egypt the nation upon which God rained down plague after plague? Why would they go down to Egypt?

They’re in trouble and they’re grasping for help and all they can see is Egypt’s horses and chariots and military strength. Surely this will help them, they think.

But God says Egypt’s help is utterly useless:

“Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace.” Isaiah 30:4-5

God even calls Egypt Rahab the Do-Nothing!

Israel has its own plan, but it’s not God’s plan. They don’t want to hear anything the prophets are saying.

But God keeps calling. Like in the book of Hosea, God intensely longs for his people to know him as their ultimate hope and security.

“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” Isaiah 30:18

What follows in chapter 30 is a description of a time when God’s people will throw away their idols and God will bless them with abundance and heal up the wounds he has inflicted on them in order to bring them back. He then announces words of devastating judgment on Assyria.

Salvation through judgment. This is a concept that I have recently been introduced to through a book by James Hamilton: God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment. He contends that the big story of the Bible can be reduced to this one central theme: God’s glory in salvation through judgment. I haven’t read the book yet but I’ve listened to an interview he did about the psalms on Nancy Guthrie’s podcast, Help Me Teach the Bible.

In the recent Bible readings I’ve noticed the theme more and more. Words of judgment followed by promises to restore and save.

This theme reaches its climax at the Cross, a combination of God’s judgment for man’s sin and the doorway to our salvation.

Intensity of emotion. Hosea is chock full of it. Hosea is called to marry a harlot as an example of God’s love to adulterous Israel. Hosea’s children are given names that we naturally recoil against.

Jezreel to symbolize punishment for the house of Israel.

Lo-ruhama which means No Mercy. The Lord will have no mercy on the house of Israel.

Lo-ammi which means Not My People. They are not the Lord’s people and he is not their God.

These are intense descriptions and things only get more intense. Gomer, Hosea’s wife, commits adultery and Hosea is called to buy her back.

Over and over God calls his people prostitutes. They are defiled and the spirit of whoredom is within them.

This isn’t exactly “Sunday school” language. It’s bracing and, maybe to some, offensive.

But as I listened to the whole book today and took in the relentless list of indictments on Israel, the Lord revealed something to me.

The depth and intensity of your commitment to someone is shown when they betray you. If you don’t really care about someone you won’t really mind when they turn their back on you.

God uses the language of marriage and adultery to describe his relationship with his people because that’s how committed he is to them, that’s how intensely he loves them.

For all the language of prostitution and whoredom in the book of Hosea, there’s also beautifully intense love language.

“And I will betroth you to me forever.” Hosea 2:19

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.” Hosea 6:1

“I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love…

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?” Hosea 11:4,8

Oh how the Lord loves his people. He greatly desires them as a husband desires his wife. No other god loves like this. Only this God deserves our love and devotion in return.

Where do you turn when you need help? Where does Israel turn for help? God is clear through his prophets. Israel’s problems are a direct result of their disobedience and idolatry.

Today’s read was hard because at every turn Israel refuses to choose the Lord. In 2 Kings 16 we read this:

“Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction.” 2 Kings 16:10

What?! King Ahaz is copying the worship of the pagan nations around him. In 2 Chronicles 28 it describes how King Ahaz closes the doors of the temple and destroys the temple furnishings. He then sets up altars at every street corner of Jerusalem.

There is worship going on here, but it certainly isn’t worship of the one true God. It’s such a powerful example of how when people turn away from God, they don’t cease to worship. They actually worship more. They turn frantically to anything that may help. Everywhere Israel turned in Jerusalem there was an altar.

But God sees and God knows every intricacy of our idol-making hearts. He created us to worship, and he’s looking for true worshipers. He will not let Israel continue in their idolatry.  There must be judgment.

Today I listened to the whole book of Amos while driving home. It seemed like every chapter started with the same words:

This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

The Lord God Almighty declares.

Hear this word, Israel…

Over and over Amos declares the word of the Lord. Words of judgment flow from his lips like water and it’s disturbing.

It’s disturbing because Judah was ostensibly doing things right. They were bringing their sacrifices, they were singing to the Lord, they were holding the religious festivals required of them.

But God hated their sacrifices and their festivals. He declared he wouldn’t listen to their songs.

Why? God judges his people because even though they were following the letter of the Law, they were neglecting justice and righteousness. They were taking advantage of the poor and cheating their neighbors.

In Amos 8 comes the declaration of a famine, but not a famine they’re used to.

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food, or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. People will stagger from sea to sea, and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.'” Amos 8:11-12

Throughout this book Amos is declaring the word of the Lord. Yes, it’s a word of judgment, it’s a word of discipline. But God only disciplines the one he loves. He wants them back!

If they don’t repent, God’s word will be gone. He will make it so they cannot hear it or find it.

It should come as no surprise to us then that when the Lord Jesus came to earth, one of the things he always said was this:

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Our only hope then is in the Lord, and in his word. Praise him that the final word in the book of Amos is a word of hope. God will keep those who are truly his. He is faithful. Let us pray for his grace to always have open ears.

The more I read the book of Jonah the more surprising I find it.

• Jonah runs away from God and his mission. We’ve never seen a prophet do this.
• Jonah and his disobedience are the cause of the storm and yet he sleeps. The sailors figure out what’s going on and they show more fear of God than Jonah.
• The people of Nineveh repent immediately. That is rarely seen in the Bible, and it’s another slap in Jonah’s face.
• Jonah accuses God of being true to his character, and he doesn’t like it at all.
• God is sovereign over storms, fish, sailors, Nineveh, plants, winds and Jonah.

Maybe the most surprising thing as I read the book of Jonah again is that the book ends on a cliffhanger.

God asks Jonah a question and we don’t get to hear the answer. How will Jonah respond? Will he submit to this God who will have mercy on whom he will have mercy?  Even mercy on people he hates? God’s actions were surprising to Jonah, and even repugnant to him.

Do I only love God’s mercy when he exercises it towards me and the people I love? If so, that God is only an idol of my imagination. It’s not the God of the Bible. He is extravagant in his grace. His aim is to spread his glory throughout the whole earth. He doesn’t delight in the death of the wicked. He extends mercy to those who least deserve it.

Some of the stories about Elisha the prophet have always confused me in the past:

• In 2 Kings 2 a group of small boys jeer at Elisha and as a result the prophet curses them and two bears attack them and kill them.
• In 2 Kings 6 the company of the prophets are cutting down trees to build a new meeting place. A borrowed ax head slips off and sinks into the water. Elisha cuts a stick, throws it in the water and causes the ax head to float.

What do these stories mean? They seem harsh or insignificant. What do they have to do with me and my life?

I think this last question is the crux of my problem. Most of us read the Bible wanting to find something immediately encouraging to ourselves. We want instant affirmation and relevant application. But the Bible is not meant to be read like this. To borrow from Jen Wilkin, the Bible is a book about God, not me.

So the story about the small boys being mauled by a bear? Yes, it is unsettling. But look at the context of the story. Elisha has just been anointed successor to Elijah. He is the prophet God has chosen. Throughout the books of Samuel and Kings, the lesson in regards to prophets is that you do not reject the prophets of the Lord. If you do, there will be serious consequences.

What about the story about the ax head? It’s weird, it doesn’t seem to relate to my life at all. But maybe it doesn’t have to. Perhaps this story has to do with God establishing Elisha as the true prophet, the true successor of Elijah who will be involved in the major events to come concerning the prophesied end of the house of Ahab in 2 Kings 8-10.

So read the Bible with an eye to seeing who God is and what he is doing. Throughout these chapters we see God being faithful to the words of his prophets. He is faithful to his word. Those who worship idols will not succeed. God’s word will be fulfilled.