Response to Revelation

I confess.

I'm woefully behind in my "one year Bible" reading.  At least by 60 days plus.  On December 22 I'm reading October 21 material.   Still making my way out of Jeremiah.  Ahead, the inscrutable Ezekiel beckons to be  navigated.  Reach the final port before year's end?  Not likely.

Still, what a remarkable journey, to read through the Word in one year.  Every other day or so--sometimes each day--I run across something that I had not known or had forgotten.  Often I just stumble into the stunning...and don't want to rush by.

Like this morning.  Most of Jeremiah's ministry was a very tough run.  He had the unenviable task of telling Judah that Babylon's armies were going to ruthlessly run them over, and that the Jewish King and the southern Kingdom should willingly submit.  God's judgment on their faithlessness could no longer be forestalled--though God had given them virtually innumerable repentance opportunities to date.

Still, though rejected repeatedly, Jeremiah kept getting messages from the Lord, and delivering the difficult mail.

Recorded in Jeremiah 36 is yet another unpopular prophetic assignment.  Jeremiah is to use his scribe (Baruch) to record all the messages Yahweh had asked his prophet to deliver over the years.  The dictation process began. Then, the scroll-anthology was to be read in the temple by Baruch to the king's administrative officials.  The reading commenced.  The words whipped the proud hearts of the king's cronies, who soon made their way to report to Jehoiakim.

The king immediately sent for Baruch's scroll.  Unrolling it and reading, Jehudi commenced verbalizing Jeremiah's burden of truth for an audience of one, King Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim's response is stunning, though perhaps not surprising to those who knew him.  "Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll.  He then threw it in the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up" (Jeremiah 36:23).

The next verse explains.  "Neither the king nor his attendance showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard" (36:24).

If you visualize the scene, you find yourself watching a very foolish man.  Listening to the whole of years of prophetic witness, each message scourging the king's proud heart, he regarded divine revelation as nothing but useless tinder for a fire to keep him warm (he sat in the "winterized" room of his palace, stoked by the fireplace).  Self-assured, blind, though for a few minutes perhaps provided a few more licking flames to spike the room temperature, the king foolishly sealed his fate.

"He who has ears to hear," Jesus said often, "let him hear."   Or not.  Jehoiakim's fireside antics fueled for him...in just a few short months... the awful fire of the relentless judgment of God.  One may discard God's given word, but such a word never returns to God void without accomplishing what He intended.

When God speaks to us, our positive response to it can always bring new life, hope, and opportunity.  Our rejection simply evidences how habitually foolish our hearts may have become.  So, what's your response to what God says to you these days?