Standing Your Post
God called his Prophet Jeremiah to deliver a message to his chosen people, the children of Israel. This message is similar to a recent post by Jerry Leachman, former chaplain of the Washington Redskins. The sobering message is to never leave your post. Those who have built a lifetime of ministry can fall mightily in a moment of indiscretion. The warning is, do you who boast of God, yourselves forsake the law of God? Oh how the mighty have fallen. The devil hides in the darkness. There is no such thing as a secret life. The challenge is to keep your post until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even King David fell when he left his post and forsook God’s calling. David left his post on the front lines of battle as Israel’s commander in chief. He forsook God’s assignment and retreated to his palace. Having taken his eye off of God’s purpose, he succumbed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. In a season of comfort and complacency he forgot his purpose and fell into an adulterous relation with Bathsheba. God called the prophet Nathan to lead David back to repentance.
God’s warning in John 3:19-20 still rings true … he that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought of God. The key is to keep ourselves in close proximity with our Lord Jesus Christ… to be faithful to keep our post until relieved by our commander in chief. Therefore guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
The context for these familiar verses begins in Jeremiah chapter 24. God called Jeremiah to speak to Israel to return back to the Lord. They had been blessed in the land and became complacent in their own riches and comfort. Israel thought that they were living in a moment of peace. They didn’t realize that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high.
In Jeremiah 24, God had warned Israel through Jeremiah that because the southern tribes of Judah had forsaken Him, they had been taken captive by the heathen king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah sent a letter to Judah in their captivity in Babylon. This letter told them God’s message of how to conduct themselves in the new land. According to Jeremiah 24:2-6:
2 “One basket (in God’s vision) had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.”
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.”
God allows his people to repent…. to return their hearts back to the Lord. According to Jeremiah 24:7, “And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”
Returning to God starts with humility. God often causes circumstances and catastrophes to bring us to our knees. We’ll never realize that he’s all we need until he’s all we have.
God used pagan King Nebuchadnezzar to bring the nation of Israel to her knees. Whom the Lord loves, he chastises. The word of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction for instruction in righteousness. To correct means to restore to an upright position. It’s painful to be straightened. However, tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience (tested character), and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
The word of God says, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” A taste for the word is an acquired taste. As we meditate upon his word by savoring it’s truth, then we can say as did Jeremiah, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16)
God’s call to Israel upon the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem still holds true for our own day and time and hour. According to 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” In order for God to restore the Land, there are four prerequisites. The first is to humble ourselves. The second is to pray. The next is to seek his face. The final step is to turn from our wicked ways. Then the promise of God is that the nation that does these things shall hear from heaven and God will forgive their sins and heal their land.
Our calling, our assignment, our appointment is to stay our post to which we have been called. Therefore keep (a military garrison around) thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Then in the midst of the spiritual battle, when the crisis comes and courage is required, we will be the reliable ones. Our assignment is in Matthew 10:6: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
… that we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
