Thought for October 12, 2024

•  539BC Cyrus the Great of Persia captures Babylon [Some say 538 BC]
• 1285: 180 Jews refuse baptism and are set on fire in Munich
• 1492: Columbus Day. Columbus makes landfall in the Bahamas
• 1609: "Three Blind Mice" published in London
• 1740: George Whitfield preaches to 30,000 in Boston
• 1823: Charles MacIntosh begins selling raincoats--Macs
• 1892: Pledge of Allegiance first recited in public schools
• 1900: First modern submarine commissioned by the Navy
• 1901: Theodore Roosevelt renames the Executive Mansion--the White House
• 1928: First use of the iron lung
• 1931: Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio opens to the public
• 1960: Khrushchev pounds his shoe at the UN
• Born: Lyman Beecher, Dick Gregory, Luciano Pavarotti, Sam Moore [Sam and Dave--"Soul Man"], Chris Wallace, Hugh Jackman, Nancy Kerrigan, Marion Jones, Sally Little
• Died: Robert E Lee, Johnny Olson, John Denver, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Shoemaker, Rene Lacoste, 

Thought:

Reading in Jeremiah 2 this morning. Focused on 2:9-13. As you read the first 8 verses, notice:

• God remembers our early devotion. Sounds like Laodicea or Ephesus in Revelation. Ephesus had left their first love and Laodicea had become lukewarm. He remembers how we followed Him when we first were saved. [2:2] But evil has come upon us. 
• God asks what He has done to cause us to forsake Him. Of course, He has not changed, it is Larry who has wandered. As you read 2:6-7, notice the picture--recall what God brought you from, understand what God is bringing you through, and think about what He is leading you to. 

Because the people had forsaken Him and worshipped other gods made with their own hands, God has a case against them [2:9]. Has any nation, any person ever exchanged from the true and living God to gods that do not prosper?  God reduces the entire case to these two thoughts--you left ME, you worshipped emptiness. Here He speaks of abandoning living water for a bucket with a hole in it. But really think about the picture. 

• Psalm 23--He leads us beside still water. He is the living water as He spoke to the Samaritan woman. That water is clean, pure, life-giving. 
• Emptiness--rather than an endless supply of living water, we decided to dig a well, the well is dry and even if it produced water, it is broken so that the water leaks out before we can use it. When I was a child, relatives lived in the country east of Atlanta. Outhouse, well and no running water, wood stove, kerosene lamps. Among my duties when there was to get water every morning--draw it from the well, fill the bucket, tote it to the house and up the steps and pour into the vat next to the stove. At home, it was just turn on the water or the hose. As a 7-8 year-old, I remember trying to fill the bucket and then carry it with out spilling so I could fill the vat. It took me a lot of trips because while my bucket didn't have a hole in its, the carrier spilled a lot of water. 

Today, I am reflecting on where I was and where I would be without Jesus. Then, I am remembering all His blessings as He leads me through life. Then, I am picturing the day when the journey ends and I reach home. Why would I ever forsake the God who has done this for me in Jesus? 

Blessings

Larry