The People Refuse to Worship The Lord

Jeremiah 44:15–30
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Jim Dunn was serving as the pastor of the First Baptist Church, and his wife, Gladys, was very friendly and welcoming to people. One particular Sunday when the sermon seemed to go on forever, many in the congregation fell asleep. After the service, to be sociable, she walked up t … More

Worship
Jews from both Northern and Southern Egypt listened to what the Lord had to say through Jeremiah (v. 15). The men knew that their wives burned incense to other gods.  It was an act of open defiance, when they shouted, “We don’t care what you say or what God says. We’re going to do what we want” (v. 16). We have promised to worship the goddess Astare, the queen of heaven, just as we, our ancestors, our kings and our leaders did when we lived in Jerusalem (v. 17). We had plenty of food back then and nothing bad ever happened to us, but since then we have been dying from war and hunger (v. 18). The women said that when we lived in Judah we worshiped the Queen of Heaven and offered sacrifices to her and our husbands approved of it (v. 19). Then Jeremiah told the crowd that the Lord knew what they had been doing and when He could no longer put up with these disgusting sins He pronounced a curse on them (vv. 20-22)

Isn’t it strange how quickly the mind of the flesh can forget? Because they did have trouble in Judah – plenty of It (v. 23). And the extent to which they did have less trouble and more prosperity there was due not to their actions but to the grace of God, withholding judgment. Now you are dong the same things here in Egypt (vv. 24-25). If you keep this up I can assure you that I will never again accept any promises you make (v. 26). Instead of watching over you, I will watch for chances to harm you  (v. 27). Only a few will escape and return to Judah (v. 28). I will keep my threats to punish you in Egypt and will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to those who want to kill him (vv. 29-30).

Application

One thing that God really hates is the worship of false gods. The place where we now live has many false gods. My heart breaks for the thousands who live here who have never heard about Jesus.

Jeremiah 44:15-30 (English Standard Version)


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