DCLM Daily Manna Sunday 26 February 2023
TOPIC: Lessons For Backsliders
Key Verse
“Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD”
(Jeremiah 8:7).
TEXT — Jeremiah 8:1-12
DCLM Daily Manna Sunday 26 February 2023 MESSAGE
In 1822, a white stork was found in the German state of Mecklenburg with an arrow made from central African hardwood, which provided some of the earliest evidence of long-distance stork migration. Many bird populations migrate long distances along a flyway. The most common pattern involves flying north in the spring to breed in the temperate or Arctic Summer and returning in the autumn to warmer regions.
From our text, the Lord used the metaphor of the seasonal migration of some species of birds to places with conducive weather conditions to reprove the utter unintelligent behaviour of thoughtless Israelites. The continuous craving of the Israelites to serve other gods sparked off strong contempt and punishment from God.
The kings of Judah, her princes, prophets and the inhabitants of Jerusalem gave themselves over to the worship of the cosmos – the sun, moon and other planetary bodies. The predicted consequences followed and the backslidden people were severely punished by the appointed agents, to the extent that their bones were scattered before the hosts of heaven whom they worshipped (Jeremiah 8:2). The God of justice used the very cosmic forces they had loved to punish them. What an irony!
We should beware of the allurements of modern-day idolatry. Anything rated or respected above God is an idol. The glamorisation of sexual perversions, institutionalised corruption and pollution via the social media attract divine judgment. We should be more intelligent than the birds who migrate away from unfriendly climates. This is a timely warning to believers in Christ against worldliness threatening to engulf the truth and the faith we hold so dear.
Thought for the day
Spiritual fall gets more terrible with “break-failure.”
BIBLE in one year
LUKE 23 – 24
