CONSIDER THIS!

Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not My people! THEY DO NOT KNOW THE LORD'S LAWS. How can yo say, "We are wise because we have the Word of the LORD," when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies? These wise teachers will fall into the trap of their own foolishness, for they have rejected the Word of the LORD. Are they so wise after all? I will give their wives to others and their farms to strangers. From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. Yes even My prophets and priests are like that. They are all frauds. THEY OFFER SUPERFICIAL TREATMENTS FOR MY PEOPLE'S MORTAL WOUND. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of these disgusting actions? Not at all - they don't even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them, says the LORD. I will surely consume them. There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit trees will all die. Whatever I gave them will soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken! (Jeremiah 8:7-13)

Friends of mine, we have to search our hearts here. Are we offering superficial treatments for the mortal wounds of God's people? Are we giving assurances of peace when there is no peace? And we fill no shame when we do this. Sweet Jesus! It's like everything is permissible right now, and we just say, "It's OK. God will forgive you." LORD help us all. According to this scripture, if we continue to do this, all of our fruit trees are going to die, and God will punish us and cause us to lie among the slaughtered. Oh my goodness. What have we done? What are we doing? LORD, forgive us!

"The snorting of the enemies' warhorses can be heard all the way from the land of Dan in the north! The neighing of their stallions makes the whole land tremble. They are coming to devour the land and everything in it - cities and people alike. I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes you cannot charm. They will bite you, and you will die. I, the LORD, have spoken!" (Jeremiah 8:16-17)

If you listen carefully, you can hear this sound. The enemy is approaching. He is coming to devour the land and everything in it - cities and people alike. We think it is the deep state or some dark force beyond our control, but it is not. It is God. He is sending His armies to devour the land because our sin is so great.
"My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. They only go from bad to worse. THEY DO NOT KNOW ME, " says the LORD. "They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to acknowledge Me," says the LORD. Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it?

The LORD replies, "This has happened because My people have abandoned My instructions; they have refuse to obey what I said. Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them. So now, this is what the LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely."

This is want the LORD of Heaven's Armies says: "CONSIDER ALL THIS, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals." This is what the LORD says: "Bodies will be scattered across the fields like clumps of manure, like bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury them." (Jeremiah 9:3,6,12-18,22)

CONSIDER ALL OF THIS! Please! Consider all of this! All that is about to happen is because we have abandoned God's instructions, and we have refused to obey what He said. We do not know Him. Sweet Jesus! Help us! Send a godly sorrow upon us that will lead us to repentance. We are so guilty. I am so sorry. We have offered superficial treatments for mortal wounds. Oh my goodness! Forgive us! We have promised peace when there is none. We have stubbornly followed our own desires and worshiped the image of Baal as our ancestors taught us. We thought that we were wise. We were not.

This is what the LORD says: "Don't let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly KNOW ME and understand that I am the LORD who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things.  I, the LORD, have spoken!"

"A time is coming," says the LORD, "when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit - the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places, and yes, even the people of Judah (that's us). And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts." (Jeremiah 9:23-26)

It is our heart that God is after. If we are withholding our heart, judgment is at our doorstep. But if you will consider your ways, God says in Deuteronomy 30: "In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the LORD your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions. If at that time you and your children return to the LORD your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where He has scattered you. Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. The LORD your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then He will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors! The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so that you will love Him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!"

This is "Good News!" In the middle of all that God is about to do, there is good news. Our God demonstrates His unfailing love to us by bringing justice and righteousness to the earth. He delights in this. He is bringing justice and righteousness into the hearts of His people. We will live under a government that is just and fair. We will be a bride without spot and wrinkle. He does this when we allow Him to circumcise our hearts. He cuts away injustice and unrighteousness until our hearts are only filled with His unfailing love and glory. Our God reigns. In the coming days, the whole world will know it.

Blessings, my friends. May you, too, see what I am writing as "Good News."
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Terri