Yet they were not afraid...

"Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. And it happened when Jehudi had read three or four columns that the king cut it with the scribe's knife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words." Jeremiah 36:22-24

God had some things to say against Israel, Judah and all the nations. He had Jeremiah write it down on a scroll in hopes that "...everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive there iniquity and their sin" Jeremiah 36:3.

But the king decided as each column was read, to cut it out and burn it until there was nothing left of the scroll. Unafraid of any consequences, he simply didn't care what God had to say. It's interesting to me that he burned it in the hearth before him, maybe because his heart wasn't burning for God, or from the hearing of His word, like the two men on the road to Emmaus...

"And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'" Luke 24:32 (my favorite verse in the Bible)

Don't be afraid of anything, be strong, be brave, be courageous: all good advice and all biblical. BUT...there is one thing and one thing only we should fear, and that is God. By fear, I mean to give Him all the reverence due Him. Even He has said fear the one who hold the keys to Hades and to hell.

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" Matt 10:28.

"I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death" Rev. 1:18.

This is no joke. God is love and He is all about forgiveness but that doesn't negate the fact that He is also holy and just. They should have been afraid, very afraid, because God is not a liar and all He said He would do, He did. Mercifully, He warned them, not once but twice, having His warning they burned rewritten with additions none-the less, yet they did not heed the warnings and turn from their sin.

Are you being warned about something? Are you willing to turn or do you want to toss what God is saying to you in the fire and take your chances? Hey, you'll be the only one to bear the consequences right? More often than not, wrong.

I confess that I've done just that at times and have always regretted it. I thank God for His tender mercy as well as His disciplines and don't want to forget in the light what He's taught me in the dark.

Don't run from Him in fear. Run to Him!

Dina Seaton
Marketing Assistant, Staff Writer

DIGGING DEEPER
James 3:10-12
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water." James 3:10-12