Every Word of God

Reading Joshua and Jeremiah at the same time has been revealing. In Joshua, God is with His people - fighting for them, giving them the land He had promised them, speaking to them, etc. In Jeremiah, God is rejecting His people - angry with them, promising to destroy them, taking them out of the land He had given them, punishing them, etc. The difference is idolatry.

In Joshua, God tells His people over and over again to "be very" courageous, strong, and careful to love Him. He reminds them over and over that He is with them and the only reason they have success is because He is with them. He tells them over and over to keep His commandments and to not serve other gods.

Well, in Jeremiah we see that they were not very careful to love the Lord their God. They did not keep His commandments. They did turn to other gods. And we see that God meant what He said in Joshua 23:14-16. "...just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.” God is keeping His promise.

This is what God does. He keeps His word. Always, every time. His words are true and will come to pass. "Every word of God proves true..." - Pr. 30:5. For good and for destruction, God will follow through with His promises. As Jeremiah 23:20 puts it, "The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart." Also, Isaiah 55:10-11 says, "my word...shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

It's difficult to feel the weight of this reality in this earthly life when things seem to happen on their own or consequences don't seem to match actions. But, everything that happens is the fulfillment of the will of God. We need to ask God to help us really understnad this truth and believe it so that we can live in the fear of the Lord and live rightly before Him. I think that when we understand this truth, we'll have a bigger view of God and therefore trust Him more and fear Him more.

And let's not forget that all-important difference between God's people in Joshua's day and Jeremiah's day - idolatry. The first commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me." God's main complaint against His people in Jeremiah's day was that they had gone and prostituted themselves to any god they desired and turned their back on the one true God. They took pleasure in anything but Him. They trusted in anything but Him. They loved anything but Him.

May God help us to believe Him and His words. May God help us to be very careful to love Him alone and obey Him.