DULL HEARTED
Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 51
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Reynold photographed a Ugandan woman winnowing. Reynold and Kathy are helping to bring church leaders together in several areas to help answer the prayer of Jesus for unity (John 17). In today’s reading Jeremiah says that Babylon is “like a threshing floor” (51:33). This woman is standing on such a floor where the harvest is beaten with sticks and then exposed to a winnowing process to remove the chaff. You can see a bag of charcoal in the background ready for sale.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Jeremiah 51:17a
“Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge.”
It’s apparent that Jeremiah is trying to get God’s message through, not only to his own people, but to the Babylonians also. Jeremiah is doing his best to awaken the “dull hearted” and to impart knowledge, so he writes the words of this prophecy on a special scroll. Then he arranged to have the scroll taken to Babylon (Iraq), read to the exiles who were already there, such as Daniel and the others, and then, with a stone tied to the scroll, sink it to the bottom of the Euphrates River, which flows through the centre of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:63, 64). This picture would probably have been in Daniel’s mind as he opened his window toward Jerusalem three times each day and prayed (Daniel 6:10).
Any of us who take the time and exercise the discipline necessary to read and study the Word of God daily are definitely not “dull hearted” and are not “without knowledge.” For example, we can have our hearts stimulated and our knowledge increased by reading Revelation 17:1 to 18:24. Here we read of a yet future Babylon which symbolically represents an “Evil Empire” (to quote Ronald Reagan) opposed to God. Again, as in the prophecy of Jeremiah, the Lord urgently calls to His people by a Voice from Heaven, “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” We, as believers in Jesus, the holy Son of God, have a message for the present time, which, if our hearts are not dull, we will heed! The Apostle quotes from Isaiah 52:11 and tells all followers of Jesus to “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean.” Paul is referring to the idols of the Greeks and Romans. Read 2 Corinthians 6:11-18. He’s not telling us to enter a monastery or join the Amish. Essentially he’s telling us to be faithful to God in the midst of a Babylonian world all around us.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I pray that You will help me not to be dull hearted. May I apply myself most diligently to the “knowledge” of You as You reveal Yourself through Your thoughts, which are expressed in all the Scriptures. May my heart be inundated by Your Truth, always perceiving Truth with the insight gained through the knowledge of Jesus, the One who is the “Living Word,” the true and full Expression of what You have to say to Your human family. In His Name I pray, Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I am praying fervently early each morning that God, the Holy Spirit, will use this blog to stimulate hearts (the opposite to “dull hearted”) by providing a practical daily path to “knowledge.” That fisher of men from the Sea of Galilee, Peter, gave his reason for writing his letters. He urged people to “be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets” (2 Peter 3:2a). I try to put myself in his shoes by remembering that the only written Word of God Peter had was his Hebrew Bible. He may or may not have been aware that he was writing a part of the Scriptures of the New Covenant of which Jeremiah had written. The Apostle Paul wrote, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable…” Join me in reading Paul’s words about his Bible (the Scriptures of the First Covenant) found in 2 Timothy 3:14 to 4:5. This speaks to me about the importance of reading even the difficult Scriptures such as Jeremiah 50 and 51.
Through this blog at “100words.ca,” we are taking a 24-month journey through all the Scriptures. I ask every reader to help me to get the word out about these blogs. Remember that anyone can start at any point and two years hence will have completed the entire volume of the knowledge God wants us to read from His Word, the Bible. Readers can take what I have to say as relatively unimportant compared to the actual Bible readings. I started this the day after the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the ministry I founded known as Crossroads Christian Communications (for a short video of the inspiration for this blog click here).
Yours as faithfully as God has given me His grace to continue,
David
P.S. It occurs to me that anyone can go back to all the earlier blogs and find any specific reading suggestion and commentary. I’m asking my son, Ron, to explain here how we can do this on our computers. For example, Ron, show me how I can find the longest recorded message of Jesus in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. I know how to find this in my Bible, but how do I find the commentaries from those blogs. Thank you my son!
OK…Ron here. If you go to www.100words.ca, you can type search words into the search bar at the top right, then hit “enter.” The results will show all of the blog posts with that particular word, and at the bottom of the results page you can click “older posts” to keep going back in time for that search. HOWEVER…if you want to be specific with a phrase or specific chapter of the Bible, then add “quotation marks” around the search words. For example, to find a blog regarding the Sermon on the Mount, you could put “Matthew 5” into the search bar (using quotation marks). Then the results will show ONLY the blogs where “Matthew” and “5” are used together in combination (otherwise, without quotation marks, it will show every blog where either “Matthew” or the number “5” was written). You could also put “Sermon on the Mount” in quotation marks. Hopefully that makes sense!
Deep, deep, deep into God, this morning and strengthened by David Mainse in heaven. 100words.ca is a permanent morning scripture/prayer guide and inspiration–ever grateful. On hands and knees in prayer, this morning. We are being hit with a wind/snow storm here in Prince Edward County, Ontario, coming off the lake. Stay safe inside fellow saints in the Lord. Thinking of you, Ger. With God’s love and protection to each of you.
But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5 NKJV
Mack Brock – I Am Loved (Official Lyric Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OmYhgvwQa8
My re-post from last night for Sah’s prayer request. Holding you up, this morning, dear one:
Lord God, You alone have the power to fulfill Sah’s needs. You are the Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals. You forgive us all our sins and heal up our diseases. You are the Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. You bring health and healing to your people and let us enjoy abundant peace and security. We call to You now for our sister-in-Christ Sah’s right hand and financial need and pray for Your blessings upon her. In Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen, amen, and amen.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
Amen
Amen to your prayer for Sah. I’m in agreement.
Amen
God heal Sah In Jesus Name Amen
Dear Beverlee Kay and to all the prayer partners
God bless you all for praying for me, Thank you so very much
i get so excited when I read all the posts and I am humbled to be able to pray for each one also……
going to choir; PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD FOR MY CAR!
He gave the car 2 years ago; it takes where ever I need to go; THANK YOU LORD…..
yes Lord please heal my right hand. heal all who are ill and need Your Healing Touch Lord on them and their families;
Bless all our leaders, In Jesus Name we pray
Yes. In agreement for Sah and for all on this blog who are in need of encouragement. May God minister to you. I could not open the video mentioned. It said “Error 224003” on two of my devices.
Doreen that is we can’t load this video message. Most likely, the video is using older technology like Adobe Flash, which most major browsers no longer support. I know Chrome stop running Adobe Flash automatically a couple of years ago, and I have my devices set to have Chrome( my browser) ask me to run Flash if the video is using that technology, but at the end of the year Chrome won’t even do that anymore. I can’t say for certain that is the issue, but it is a safe bet considering the original posting of this blog was done in 2012-14— David did some updates while he was alive, but I imagine most of the links are that old. I hope that helps. If Adobe Flash is the issue those running the blog should considering updating the video links to the modern technology if they are leaving this blog online.
Thank you Donna. We lost a family member today. Family got there 1/2 hour before she passed. We KNOW she is with the Lord. Hallelujah!
It’s a very difficult time for some of my family members. They were summoned to the bedside of a dear sister, mother, and daughter who has been treated for inoperable stomach cancer. She is a wonderful Christian lady. Family knows that the Lord walks with her through the valley. Appreciate your prayers (Miami, Florida). Thank you.
Praying for your family, Doreen, and beloved one in Miami, Florida, who is in God’s hands. Praying for her comfort and ease of suffering and pain as she awaits returning home to her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May your family, there, find comfort in Him. Amen.
God Heal Our Sister and Be With the Family In Jesus Name
Amen
Dear Lord God, this is Your world, and we thank You for it. We ask You to keep and comfort and heal all Your people. You told us that in this world we would have trouble, but to take heart because You have overcome this world – even death. Please help all Your people everywhere to keep their eyes and hearts focused on You. Help each one to do the work You have given us to do, skillfully, wisely, and well. Be glorified in our work, Lord, and help us to share the good news of Your gospel with others, in Jesus’s great name, amen
Amen!
Amen Rob
Let you will be done!!!
Can’t imagine having to winnow for my food every day. Great photo Reynold…thank you. How blessed we are to live in a country such as Canada. Jeremiah was certainly filled with the holy spirit–to be able to continue conveying God’s word to basically enemies. Such a joy to study our bible and have it bring wisdom and understanding in even today’s world.
“The Jewish people faced generations of persecution by Gentiles, beginning with slavery in Egypt and continuing through subjugation by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. As a result, some developed a theology of condemnation, concluding that Gentiles were “unclean” and unworthy of community with God’s chosen people.
Jesus broke down all such barriers with his ministry to Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles. He commissioned his followers to make disciples of all “nations,” literally all “ethnicities” (Matthew 28:19).
As a result, we know that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).” Dr. Jim Denison
You Raise me Up: https://youtu.be/HeUJ4Y-XOeY
Abundant blessings on all dear Saints this and each day.
Agreeing in prayer for your loved one in Miami, Florida Doreen. May she be comforted by the Lord’s presence as well as the family. Thank you Beverlee for your thoughts and at present it is very quiet here for which I am thankful. Haven’t heard anymore concerning my cousin Helene. The Lord be with each of you.