My Message

I finished Jeremiah and Lamentations and started on Ezekial yesterday.  I don't know if you've read Jeremiah but "the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah," in some form, is repeated constantly.  God would give him a message and then Jeremiah (bless his heart) would repeat it to the people who would think he was an idiot and walk away.  He did this for YEARS with no sign of repentance on the part of the people.

Jeremiah is fifty two chapters.  Fifty two chapters of "this message came to Jeremiah from The Lord"...."I received this message from The Lord."  Not once did Jeremiah say, "and I gave them a piece of my mind too," which I think, after all the years of faithfully  predicting horrible doom and gloom...which I might add, came true... he'd earned the right to tell them not only what God said but what he thought too.

He obviously did not.

The amazing thing is that after years of reading this book, only today when I got to Ezekial, did what I read, come alive.  Because He said the same thing to Ezekial.

"They are a hard hearted and stubborn people.  But I am sending you to say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says!'  And whether they  listen or not ...for remember they are rebels...at least they will know they have had a prophet among them."  Ez 2:4-5

I stopped and took a deep breath.  How many lessons have I taught, how much advice have I given...that was not what the Sovereign Lord said to me.  It was what I read and then my thoughts on it.  It was what I thought based on my experience.  So much of it was not a word from the Sovereign Lord.

The word of The Lord came to  Jeremiah, to Ezekial, to Habakkuk ... to so many then, and to believers now.  Yet am I shooting from the hip because I'm good at it, I always have an opinion or am I careful to only transmit what I have heard The Lord say either in His word or in my heart...both of  which should concur.

Am I saying it in His timing...when He tells me to or when I think they should hear it dadgumit.   Am I watering it down, making it more palatable or are they getting it verbatim.

Am I listening...is my heart continually turning toward Him because I want to be sure I don't miss a thing...and that I get it right?

Repeated words or phrases in the Bible are for emphasis.  This phrase was repeated a million times throughout the Old Testament.

And God knows He has to repeat because it takes me so long to get it...for a light to come on.

O Lord, may I never utter a word that could possibly be construed as a word from You, without knowing for sure...that it IS a word from You.  May I just keep my mouth shut if I'm not sure.  If I am sure, may I speak it exactly as You give  it to me.  May I be so careful....knowing that as a believer, I speak for The Lord God Almighty.

What an incredibly humbling thought.  I cringe at some of the things I've said.  May I be quick to hear, slow to speak...always knowing You are present and I am Your mouthpiece.