{"id":125,"date":"2018-08-08T14:25:55","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T14:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/?p=125"},"modified":"2018-08-08T14:26:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T14:26:36","slug":"title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/?p=125","title":{"rendered":"Treacherous"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

You will be righteous, LORD, even if I bring a case against You. Yet, I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do the treacherous live at ease?<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 12:1<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

God is accessible but we should understand how to approach Him. God is sovereign. He does not need our approval and any judgement we pass on Him is powerless. Knowing these things, Jeremiah expresses his concerns.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah knows killing, stealing, and adultery are prohibited things–wickedness. In fact, God recorded law for humankind not only in documents (Deut. 30:10) but also etched law on the heart of every person (Rom. 2:15). Yet, it is apparent that there are those who do these things as a practice without a lightning bolt flashing out of the sky to smite them. God appears to be inactive or impotent to deal with non-conformance to law.<\/p>\n

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You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their conscience.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 12:2<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jeremiah recognizes another aspect of the sovereignty of God. God put these wicked people in their place. He provided the resources for their growth. The verse says that they “produced fruit”. We do not know here if they have shown some good deeds or if this is some sort of wicked<\/em> fruit but it is clear that God has allowed them to continue. These people give God lip service, an outward appearance of accepting or loving God but this is only an outward display. The wicked do not accept the sovereignty of God.<\/p>\n

\n

As for You, Lord, You know me; You see me.\u00a0You test whether my heart is with You.\u00a0Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter\u00a0and set them apart for the day of killing.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 12:3<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What is in our heart matters. What we do matters. For the wicked, there is a terrible end even if today they prosper. We should have insight enough to keep returning to God, in His Word and prayer asking Him to steer our hearts.<\/p>\n

How long will the land mourn\u00a0and the grass of every field wither?\u00a0Because of the evil of its residents,\u00a0animals and birds have been swept away,\u00a0for the people have said,\u00a0\u201cHe cannot see what our end will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 12:4<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Our world is suffering because of the behavior of the wicked. It stems from the attitude “He [God] cannot see what our end will be.” The attitude is that God will not judge. The attitude is that God is not able. We will make our own way, do what is best in our own eyes. That way produces suffering and ends in eternal separation from the only source of life, hope, and good – God Himself.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah is a book of mourning, warning, and a call to repent – to turn away from our own ways and turn to God’s ways. Today is a good day for your to start back down that path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  You will be righteous, LORD, even if I bring a case against You. Yet, I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do the treacherous live at ease? Jeremiah 12:1 God is accessible but we should understand how to approach Him. God is sovereign. He does not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}