Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

October 3, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO GIVE US GOOD OPPORTUNITIES (part three)

Jeremiah 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. 8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit

Why did God’s people completely ruin such a good opportunity that God gave them? How did they defile a “plentiful” country after God had done so much to lead them to it? Who dropped the ball? Who is to blame?

1. THOSE IN POLITICAL AUTHORITY
2. THOSE IN JUDICIAL AUTHORITY

Now let’s look at the final group here:

3. THOSE IN SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
The “pastors” and the “prophets” were to blame also. The term “pastors” here is a word for shepherds, or those leading a herd or group. This would be men of God that God had entrusted to lead people spiritually. God said the “pastors also transgressed against me”. Now we are really in trouble. It is one thing if political leaders and judicial leaders drift away from God, but when the spiritual leaders do “also”, we are in big trouble. This is the essence of pollution. If there is anyone that should be honest, upright, and Biblical, it is the spiritual leaders. If anyone should fight against pollution instead of giving in to pollution, it would be the spiritual leaders.

Notice something important here. The political leaders forgot God. The judicial leaders didn’t even know God. But the spiritual leaders “transgressed against” God. What an indictment! God is disappointed by all of this, but He is disgusted by what the spiritual leaders have done. I believe the spiritual leaders bear the greatest blame. They are the ones who have dropped the ball. There is no excuse. Such is the case in America.

We really can’t blame the president, the Congress, the Senate, the supreme court, the judges, the lawyers, the governors, the mayors, or any other political or judicial figures. The blame belongs with the spiritual leaders. We have not done our job. We have dropped the ball. God has given us every good opportunity. We have freedom of religion in this country. We can meet publicly, preach passionately, and even go door to door with the gospel and not fear jail time or physical persecution. Yes, God brought us into a “plentiful” country, but we have “defiled” it.

I see here that the “pastors” and “prophets” transgressed in how they “talked” and how they “walked”. They did not preach the truth, and they did not live the truth. They “prophesied by Baal”, and “walked after things that did not profit”. It sure is easy in our churches nowadays to get involved with several things that really do not profit anything. It sure might draw a crowd and entertain a lot of people, but does it really profit anything? God mentions this a few verses later:

11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

Pray for your pastor today. Pray for your church today. PRAY!