October 20: Denying the truth does not make it false

Jeremiah 35:1-36:32

1 Timothy 5:1-25

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 25:25-27

A modern idiom that, it appears, would have been utterly lost on Jehoiakim: "Don't shoot the messenger." Because Jehoiakim so despised the message from God that he not only methodically burned the scroll on which it was written, little by little, but he commanded that Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet be arrested.  I can't imagine prison there was going to be anything like "Club Fed".  

Here's the thing, though: that Jehoiakim felt compelled to respond that way tells me the message was NOT meaningless.  It mattered to him.  But his response was to cut it up and throw it into the fire, and then order the arrest of the messengers, as a way, perhaps, of denying the very existence of the message.  Clearly, that wasn't going to work - God then turned around, had Baruch and Jeremiah rewrite the message, with an addendum describing Jehoiakim's fate.  

I cannot help but think how much what Jehoiakim did takes place today.  We live in a society that has systematically taken God's word and twisted it beyond all recognition, to justify actions and behavior it wants to embrace and enjoy, a society that denies God's existence and enshrines man as the highest power and greatest authority, then seeks out and demonizes those that have the temerity to continue to recognize our Sovereign God.  The stories are everywhere, even among various churches.  One gets the sense they'd forgotten Proverbs 25:26: "Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked."

The good news is that, as Jehoiakim eventually finds out, denying God's word does not affect its existence, its nature.  And as Jeremiah and Baruch learn, God protects those who abide in HIs word.  As the psalmist says, "righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne...blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You, who walk n the light of Your presence, Lord."  And he notes God's promise to His anointed ones: "My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him.  The enemy will not get the better of him; the wicked will not oppress him."

It isn't easy; in fact, on our own strength, it is increasingly difficult to live according to God's Word.  But it is precisely because it is impossible to do it on our own strength that it is imperative we cleave to His Word, that we may find the strength to live with Him in spite of the pressure of the world to do otherwise.