“Heal me, O Lord” ... the Wayfarer 1/11/14

“Heal me, O Lord”

1/11/14

“Heal me o Lord and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.”

(Jeremiah 17:14)

Despite the continued abuse, disparagement, and disbelief of a people of a nation, there still remains hope of redemption through repentance.

Our God, though a wrathful God, is still, as He has always been, a merciful God…..when His terms are met!

Today, we go to the book of Jeremiah, for guidance, and hope.

As so many times in the past, we find Israel has turned from the commandments and teachings of God, and faces the wrath of His judgment….. That same wrath and judgment is to be faced by all peoples, and nations failing to adhere to the same commandments and teachings.

They began to trust in their own efficacy, their own wisdom, and their own devices and sciences, departing from that which was intended for them. They took the teachings of man over the laws and teachings of God, and forgot the past experiences with having done the same things.

“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree  planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither cease from yielding fruit.”

(Jeremiah 17: 5- 8)

To trust solely in the devices and teaching of man can only result in the inevitable repetition of all the times that the same has happened before in so many failed societies that refused to listen to, and adhere to, the Word of God!

Empire after empire, kingdom after kingdom, alliance after alliance has failed throughout the centuries for this very reason….All men are fallible, and imperfect and incapable of creating or enforcing perfection through any of our learnings, or teachings from those failed ideals and ideas. that continue to be brought back into play, time after time, when their failure in the past has been forgotten by the majority, who then accept, propagate, and promote them as new, and progressive, for the generation being fooled by those whose motives are often only their own self-enrichment.

When those ideas fail, so do the nations embracing them, so do the people accepting them!

When true trust is placed in God, who is infallible, teachings incorruptible, mercy unceasing, and power unending, a different outcome may be expected by that same people or nation.

So long as that faith, and belief in, and adherence to God’s intended path is followed, that nation or people cannot help but flourish and grow, until once again it turns from the source of the given blessings.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatchest them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

A glorious high throne form the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart form me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”

(Jeremiah 17:9-13)

We are constantly, carefully, weighed in the balances, as to whether the words spoken, and actions taken are truly in accordance with what may be, and are in fact to be found, within our hearts.

Mankind may be gullible, and easily deceived by pretty speeches, and insistence that a man knows what is best, and is acting in the best interests of a people or nation, but it is not the speeches examined by our God, and He is never mocked without later having His vengeance, and never deceived because He examines the heart and soul of man!

It is to God that we must cling, despite the disparagement for having done so, given by ones whose elitism refuses to acknowledge His part in our blessings, and His ability to remove those blessings at will.

Any attempting to achieve the betterment of a nation or the enrichment of that nation without the help of, and credit given to, God must, and will fail in their efforts, and drag down those who believed them along with themselves, leading them to destruction instead of the promised prosperity.

As from the institution of this nation, as well as Israel, our sanctuary  lay  then, and must now lie in, the high throne of God himself from which the correct teachings and tenants came to establish those nations.

Those detractors from the truth of that fact will eventually fail, but will not be forgotten, nor forgiven for their abject heresy and blasphemy promoted to effect their own power and wealth instead of that of God.

I now leave the reader to complete the 17^th Chapter, and the further guidance in what is required for Israel to stay the wrath that is to come, that is given, and go a bit farther over into the 18^th chapter to illustrate the promise still available to us, that was available to Israel at that time and is yet today for all who accept the terms given.

“The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord, Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so  are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it;

If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
(Jeremiah, 18: 1-10)

Choices are given. A means of redemption through repentance is given, both to individual, and to nation!

Prosperity and benevolence is promised if those terms are met.

Warnings are also given! This too constitutes a promise. God does not forget, forsake or fail to honor any promise ever made. This holds as true now as it did at the time of the writing of today’s chosen scripture.

Opportunity is given, and must in turn be taken to turn back from the path set out on that honors only man and his supposed wisdom and continue the benevolence and blessings given by our God, or to turn toward those purporting to provide our every need through the accumulated knowledge of this imperfect creature failing to acknowledge that that knowledge and all that it implies is still imperfect and cannot hold up under the scrutiny of that God.

That opportunity exists to individuals, as well as nations, and must begin with individuals if that nation is to follow suit.

It must begin with the understanding that the only path that may lead back to any modicum of benevolence and blessing must first be preceded with the comprehension of, and actual action taken first by, the individual and then by the nation to:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Redemption through repentance are the terms set before each man, each nation, each kingdom, each empire, each alliance, and in fact all of mankind that must be met to prosper while on this pitiful ball of dirt, and more importantly to come to the destination intended for all within the confines of the Love and Light that has been promised us for meeting those terms.

Failure to recognize, comprehend and accept those terms result only in desolation, destruction, and damnation.

Once more, the choice offered is yours to make, as was the one I had to make long ago when it was given me.

Choose wisely!

I close again, your servant, and His, poor simple sinner saved by grace through faith in the Son, whose sacrifice allows the promise not only of redemption here, but eternally when I face the judgment throne, praying that same simple prayer that comes in today’s opening verse, both for myself and my nation, hoping that all join me in that prayer, still and yet the soldier  I was born to be, in His service beyond the end. 

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen.
the Wayfarer