An explorer in the deepest Amazon suddenly finds himself surrounded by a bloodthirsty group of natives. Upon surveying his situation, he says quietly to himself, "I’m toast."
A ray of light breaks forth from the sky and a voice booms out: "No, you are NOT toast. Pick up that stone in front of you and bash the head of the chief."
So the explorer picks up the stone and proceeds to bash in the head of the chief. He is breathing heavily while standing above the sprawled out-chief.
Surrounding him are the 100 native warriors with a look of shock on their faces.
The voice booms out again: "Okay...NOW you’re toast!"
We all go through times when things just keep going wrong. This is when we need to realise that God is in control. Jeremiah knew this
Jer 32:17 Let’s see if we can pick up some tips from Jeremiah
1) JEREMIAH’S SITUATION
a) 32:1-3 Land was under siege
i) They had witnessed what Assyria had done to the northern kingdom of Israel
b) Prophet who had been called from a young age. He served God with his whole heart, but saw absolutely no success in his ministry … imagine how alone he was. And you thought it was bad being the only Christian at work.
c) He was imprisoned for his preaching
i) Would we have continued to serve God?
ii) Very often, we serve God until the first problem comes.
(1) Not like Joseph. Joseph continued to serve God even when his obeying God got him into trouble.
iii) It’s easy to serve God when everything is going right
iv) Job “shall we accept good from God and not trouble?”
Job knew that God had something in store for him … so did Jeremiah, and so he could say “Ah, Lord God … “
2) JEREMIAH’S ACTIONS VS 6-10
a) Hears from God
i) Difficult to hear from God in those circumstances because we tend to focus our thoughts on ourselves. We throw a pity party … go into PLOM mode
ii) We need to turn to God in bad times … then we will be able to say “Ah, Lord God … “
b) He not only heard God, but he obeyed.
i) Sounds like the obvious next step, but in reality, it is not that easy to do.
ii) Country was in major recession. He never had money. Besides which, he knew that everyone was going to be taken off to Babylon … and God is asking him to buy land… AND he was in prison!
God’s ways are not our ways.
c) Jeremiah managed his worldly affairs with faith in God. We compartmentalize our lives, separating finances from spiritual.
i) Jeremiah thought, what is money, I serve the God who created the heaven and the earth.
d) Only after he obeyed that he was able to pray “Ah Lord God… “
i) God calls us to act in faith first … otherwise it’s not faith
ii) YA sound system … forklifts cf trucks
iii) Seymore … preached about speaking in tongues being the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What’s unusual about that? Well, he didn’t speak in tongues when he was preaching that.
3) JEREMIAH’S UNDERSTANDING OF GOD VS 17
a) The creator … read through Gen 1 WOW
b) God is huge
c) Yes we have problems … God’s bigger
d) Yes we have an enemy … God’s bigger
e) Ah, Lord God …
Conc
Egg and potato. Both get put into hot water. One comes out hard. The other comes out soft and sweet. One says “Aaagh, God where are you?” The other says “Ah, Lord God …”
