Lesson 7 November 7-13 The Crisis Continues
Memory Text: “ 'But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,' says the Lord”(Jeremiah 9:24, NKJV).
The travails and trials of God's servant continue. In fact, pretty much all of the book of Jeremiah deals with the challenges and struggles the prophet had in trying to get the people to listen to the words that the Lord was seeking to convey to them out of love and concern.
Imagine what would have happened if the people had listened to Jeremiah and had accepted the prophet's warning. If they had listened-if the people, the kings, and the leaders had humbled themselves before God-the terrible crisis would not have come.The chance for repentance was before them. Even after they had done so much wrong, so much evil, the door to redemption and salvation had not closed. The door stood open; they simply refused to walk through it.
Again, it's so easy for us today to shake our heads at the hardness of their hearts. “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11, NKJV). We have these examples before us; what will we learn from them?MY POSSIBLE ANSWER: Hopefully, all that God would have us learn.
Sunday November 8 Let Him Who Boasts . . .
In Jeremiah 9:1-26, the prophet began his lamentation because he saw the inevitable catastrophe coming to his country and people. God pronounced judgment over Jerusalem, and when God says something, He does it. What they would face wasn't something fortuitous, not just one of those terrible and inexplicable things that happen from time to time. No, what they would face was going to be the direct judgment of God. And it was this realization that was causing Jeremiah such sorrow. His sorrow, though, was only a small reflection of the pain that God must have felt.
Though the context is different, this quote captures the idea so well: “The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God.Every departure from the right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach His ideal, brings grief to Him. When there came upon Israel the calamities that were the sure result of separation from God,-subjugation by their enemies, cruelty, and death,-it is said that 'His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.' 'In all their affliction He was afflicted: . . . and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.'Judges 10:16; Isaiah 63:9.”-Ellen G. White, Education, p. 263.
ReadJeremiah 9:1-26, the prophet's sorrowful lament. Focus especially on Jeremiah 9:23-24.
Jer 9:1Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Jer 9:2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
Jer 9:3And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
Jer 9:4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
Jer 9:5And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Jer 9:6Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
Jer 9:7Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
Jer 9:8Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: onespeaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
Jer 9:9Shall I not visit them for these things?saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Jer 9:10For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
Jer 9:11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
Jer 9:12Who is the wise man, that may understand this? andwho is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perishethand is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
Jer 9:13And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
Jer 9:14But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
Jer 9:15Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Jer 9:16I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Jer 9:17Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
Jer 9:18And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
Jer 9:19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
Jer 9:20Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
Jer 9:21For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Jer 9:22Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
Jer 9:23Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
Jer 9:24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
23. Glory. That is, “boast,” as the word thus translated is rendered in 1 Kings 20:11; Ps. 52:1; Prov. 27:1; etc. The prophet now points out delusive objects of self-confident boasting. The human devices upon which the people prided themselves would be futile in the day of desolation.
Wisdom. Probably the primary reference is to the wisdom, political sagacity (level-headedness), and human farsightedness of statesmen. However, any trust placed in human wisdom is sheer folly, for it is partial and uncertain (see Prov. 3:5; 1 Cor. 13:9, 10).
Might.Military prowess, armaments, strength of soldiers, material force, etc. All of these are limited.
Riches.Wealth and material possessions constitute no legitimate ground for boasting. “Riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away” (Prov. 23:5).
24. Glory in this.The truly wise ascribe praise to God alone, never to self (see on v. 23). The knowledge of God is the only true ground for glorying (see 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17). That man alone is truly wise in whose heart such knowledge is treasured, for it is life eternal (John 17:3). This knowledge has an intellectual aspect involving the understanding. Man’s relationship to God has a reasonable and intelligent basis. It is no blind discipleship. Man is to serve God with all the mind (Matt. 22:37). But knowing God goes beyond a merely theoretical understanding. It is an experimental knowledge. It is practical. It manifests itself in walking in God’s ways (see Job 22:21; Jer. 22:16).
Lovingkindness. Heb. chesed, “divine love” (see Additional Note on Ps. 36). God desires that men become acquainted with His attributes.
Judgment.Heb. mishpat (see on Jer. 5:4; Ps. 119:7).
I delight.God takes pleasure in manifesting these moral attributes as well as in seeing them reflected in His children (see Micah 6:8; 7:18).
Jer 9:25Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
Jer 9:26Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Why are those words so relevant even to us today?MY POSSIBLE ANSWER: They are relevant for us today because they hold up an ideal that speaks to us amid the existing standards, value systems and practices of our age.
It has been said that when it comes to death, we are all like an “unwalled city.”Wisdom, might, and riches all have their place, but to rely on these things, especially amid catastrophe, or when death looms, is fruitless, meaningless, and empty.Amid all the warning about the doom, the people are told what really matters, and that is to know and to understand for oneself, at least to the degree that we can, the loving kindness, the justice, and the righteousness of God. What else is there, what else alone can give us hope and comfort when everything earthly, everything human, including our own flesh, fails us?
What does the Cross tell us about the loving kindness, the justice, and the righteousness of God?MY POSSIBLE ANSWER: The cross tells us that God’s love for us is all-encompassing meeting our complete needs regardless of our sins while at the same time meeting the demands of justice in the light of His righteous character. In order to destroy sin and its results He gave His best Beloved.
Ellen G. White, Education, pp. 262 – 265.
Chapter 31 – The Lifework
Success in any line demands a definite aim. He who would achieve true success in life must keep steadily in view the aim worthy of his endeavor. Such an aim is set before the youth of today. The heaven-appointed purpose of giving the gospel to the world in this generation is the noblest that can appeal to any human being. It opens a field of effort to everyone whose heart Christ has touched.
God's purpose for the children growing up beside our hearths is wider, deeper, higher, than our restricted vision has comprehended. From the humblest lot those whom He has seen faithful have in time past been called to witness for Him in the world's highest places. And many a lad of today, growing up as did Daniel in his Judean home, studying God's word and His works, and learning the lessons of faithful service, will yet stand in legislative assemblies, in halls of justice, or in royal courts, as a witness for the King of kings.Multitudes will be called to a wider ministry. The whole world is opening to the gospel. Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God. From Japan and China and India, from the still-darkened lands of our own continent, from every quarter of this world of ours, comes the cry of sin-stricken hearts for a knowledge of the God of love. Millions upon millions have never so much as heard of God or of His love revealed in Christ.It is their right to receive this knowledge. They have an equal claim with us in the Saviour's mercy. And it rests with us who have received the knowledge, with our children to whom we may impart it, to answer their cry. To every household and every school, to every parent, teacher, and child upon whom has shone the light of the gospel, comes at this crisis the question put to Esther the queen at that momentous crisis in Israel's history, "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14.
Those who think of the result of hastening or hindering the gospel think of it in relation to themselves and to the world.Few think of its relation to God.Few give thought to the suffering that sin has caused our Creator. All heaven suffered in Christ's agony; but that suffering did not begin or end with His manifestation in humanity. The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God. Every departure from the right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach His ideal, brings grief to Him. When there came upon Israel the calamities that were the sure result of separation from God,--subjugation by their enemies, cruelty, and death, --it is said that "His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." "In all their affliction He was afflicted: . . . and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Judges 10:16; Isaiah 63:9.
His Spirit "maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." As the "whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together" (Romans 8:26, 22), the heart of the infinite Father is pained in sympathy.Our world is a vast lazar house, a scene of misery that we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon. Did we realize it as it is, the burden would be too terrible. Yet God feels it all. In order to destroy sin and its results He gave His best Beloved, and He has put it in our power, through co-operation with Him, to bring this scene of misery to an end. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matthew 24:14."Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15), is Christ's command to His followers. Not that all are called to be ministers or missionaries in the ordinary sense of the term; but all may be workers with Him in giving the "glad tidings" to their fellow men.To all, great or small, learned or ignorant, old or young, the command is given.
In view of this command, can we educate our sons and daughters for a life of respectable conventionality, a life professedly Christian, but lacking His self-sacrifice, a life on which the verdict of Him who is truth must be, "I know you not"?
Thousands are doing this. They think to secure for their children the benefits of the gospel while they deny its spirit. But this cannot be. Those who reject the privilege of fellowship with Christ in service, reject the only training that imparts a fitness for participation with Him in His glory.They reject the training that in this life gives strength and nobility of character. Many a father and mother, denying their children to the cross of Christ, have learned too late that they were thus giving them over to the enemy of God and man. They sealed their ruin, not alone for the future but for the present life. Temptation overcame them. They grew up a curse to the world, a grief and shame to those who gave them being.
Even in seeking a preparation for God's service, many are turned aside by wrong methods of education. Life is too generally regarded as made up of distinct periods, the period of learning and the period of doing--of preparation and of achievement. In preparation for a life of service the youth are sent to school, to acquire knowledge by the study of books. Cut off from the responsibilities of everyday life, they become absorbed in study, and often lose sight of its purpose. The ardor of their early consecration dies out, and too many take up with some personal, selfish ambition. Upon their graduation, thousands find themselves out of touch with life. They have so long dealt with the abstract and theoretical that when the whole being must be roused to meet the sharp contests of real life, they are unprepared. Instead of the noble work they had purposed, their energies are engrossed in a struggle for mere subsistence. After repeated disappointments, in despair even of earning an honest livelihood, many drift into questionable or criminal practices. The world is robbed of the service it might have received; and God is robbed of the souls He longed to uplift, ennoble, and honor as representatives of Himself.