God will not remain silent forever; therefore, He must never be taken for granted. How arrogant to think that all is well in God's eyes just because your current situation is comfortable.
You've heard the old saying, "One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch." Well as with all things, in the Spirit realm, it's just the opposite from God's vantage point.
1 Corinthians 5:6 (KJV)
⁶Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
So then, one bad apple, (i.e. a little leaven, a little sin) does indeed spoil the whole bunch. Or, as was purposed in the following text, one city's continued BAD ATTITUDE of rebelling against God brought destruction upon an entire nation. Again...
Jeremiah 22:21-23 (MSG)
²¹"I spoke to you when everything was going your way. You said, "I'm not interested.' You've been that way as long as I've known you, never listened to a thing I said. ²²All your leaders will be blown away, all your friends end up in exile, and you'll find yourself in the gutter, disgraced by your evil life. ²³You big-city people thought you were so important, thought you were 'king of the mountain'! You're soon going to be doubled up in pain, pain worse than the pangs of childbirth."
Perhaps the city didn't realize it; but, like Ezekiel, it turned out that Jeremiah was also set as an ensign. Therefore, the very things that the city had done to Jeremiah were in turn done to their nation. From the outside, looking in, one might assess that God's plan was a bit sinister. Oh, He takes it personal alright. It amazes me how many speak of Jesus's forgiveness for themselves, yet they themselves have chosen to partake in punishing. While that is indeed hypocritical, God's ways are never sinister, they are righteous and just, according to the ongoing "measure which is measured." God simply fulfilled His perfect "flip the script" plan, to cleanse His inheritance through the pruning His people.
Jeremiah 14:16[c] (MSG)
"For I will pour out their own wickedness on them."
Both the previous and following texts teaches us that unless a city or nation wants God to serve her with her own corrupt food of injustice, oppression, and violence, she must change her thinking and BEHAVIOR.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (KJV)
⁷Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: ⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
God operates according to His own script. Man can either change his ways or God will put the land, which was given in covenant, back on His Potter’s wheel. God, not only reserves all rights over the appointed time and place, He also appoints the one whom He chooses to carry out His plans:
Jeremiah 1:10 (NLT)
Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”
The people rejected Jeremiah as well. But, God didn't stop appointing people when Jeremiah was rejected, nor after his death.
I am by no means blessing and cursing with the same mouth. It is according to God's will, that at the appointed time, even His chosen people are uprooted. Though, time and time again, through flood, plague, etc., God has mercifully relented, He knows the details from end to beginning.
Zephaniah 3:7 (NLT)
I thought, ‘Surely they will have reverence for me now! Surely they will listen to my warnings. Then I won’t need to strike again, destroying their homes.’ But no, they get up early to continue their evil deeds."
It's not always the devil who destroys; even God gets fed up with being disrespected and cuts off His unleavened bread of mercy, for a time.
You've heard the old saying, "One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch." Well as with all things, in the Spirit realm, it's just the opposite from God's vantage point.
1 Corinthians 5:6 (KJV)
⁶Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
So then, one bad apple, (i.e. a little leaven, a little sin) does indeed spoil the whole bunch. Or, as was purposed in the following text, one city's continued BAD ATTITUDE of rebelling against God brought destruction upon an entire nation. Again...
Jeremiah 22:21-23 (MSG)
²¹"I spoke to you when everything was going your way. You said, "I'm not interested.' You've been that way as long as I've known you, never listened to a thing I said. ²²All your leaders will be blown away, all your friends end up in exile, and you'll find yourself in the gutter, disgraced by your evil life. ²³You big-city people thought you were so important, thought you were 'king of the mountain'! You're soon going to be doubled up in pain, pain worse than the pangs of childbirth."
Perhaps the city didn't realize it; but, like Ezekiel, it turned out that Jeremiah was also set as an ensign. Therefore, the very things that the city had done to Jeremiah were in turn done to their nation. From the outside, looking in, one might assess that God's plan was a bit sinister. Oh, He takes it personal alright. It amazes me how many speak of Jesus's forgiveness for themselves, yet they themselves have chosen to partake in punishing. While that is indeed hypocritical, God's ways are never sinister, they are righteous and just, according to the ongoing "measure which is measured." God simply fulfilled His perfect "flip the script" plan, to cleanse His inheritance through the pruning His people.
Jeremiah 14:16[c] (MSG)
"For I will pour out their own wickedness on them."
Both the previous and following texts teaches us that unless a city or nation wants God to serve her with her own corrupt food of injustice, oppression, and violence, she must change her thinking and BEHAVIOR.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 (KJV)
⁷Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: ⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
God operates according to His own script. Man can either change his ways or God will put the land, which was given in covenant, back on His Potter’s wheel. God, not only reserves all rights over the appointed time and place, He also appoints the one whom He chooses to carry out His plans:
Jeremiah 1:10 (NLT)
Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”
The people rejected Jeremiah as well. But, God didn't stop appointing people when Jeremiah was rejected, nor after his death.
I am by no means blessing and cursing with the same mouth. It is according to God's will, that at the appointed time, even His chosen people are uprooted. Though, time and time again, through flood, plague, etc., God has mercifully relented, He knows the details from end to beginning.
Zephaniah 3:7 (NLT)
I thought, ‘Surely they will have reverence for me now! Surely they will listen to my warnings. Then I won’t need to strike again, destroying their homes.’ But no, they get up early to continue their evil deeds."
It's not always the devil who destroys; even God gets fed up with being disrespected and cuts off His unleavened bread of mercy, for a time.
Food for thought
