Old Testament: Jeremiah 43, 44, 45
Poetry: Proverbs 25
New Testament: Intro to Jude – see below
“REXBURG, Idaho – The five-bedroom house sits on pastoral acreage in the rural U.S. countryside. At a price less than $180,000, it seemed a steal.
But a bargain it wasn’t. Ben and Amber Sessions soon realized the dream home they’d purchased in Idaho for their growing family in 2009 was infested with hundreds upon hundreds of garter snakes.
The ground surrounding the home appeared to move at times, it was so thick with snakes. Throngs of snakes crawled beneath the home’s siding. At night, the young couple said they would lie awake and listen to slithering inside the walls.
“It was like living in one of those horror movies,” said Ben Sessions, 31.”
I wonder if this nightmare could have been avoided with a house inspection before this young couple purchased this home. I imagine in the excitement of buying a home for a great price and naively trusting their realtor that the stories about snakes in the area were a myth, a home inspector probably didn’t seem necessary.
In Jeremiah 43-45, God is the home inspector. Through Jeremiah, God warns the Judeans not to go to Egypt. Though this warning was not due to snakes, but worse, false gods. Depending on what Wikipedia article you read, the Egyptians of the time had between 1500 to 2000 false gods. While the gods did not actually exist, the people who worshiped them certainly did and were the “influencers” of their time. God knew that if the Judeans went to Egypt, they would quickly fall in step with the practices of the Egyptian culture. In fact, many of the women were already worshiping the “Queen of Heaven,” the goddess of sex and war. God does not accept practicing sexual immorality (which He reminds us again through Jude, which just HAPPENS to be our New Testament reading for the day. Coincidence? I think not!). Even more so, God is a jealous
God and does not accept worshiping other gods. Besides all that, we were already told that God told the people NO. And that should have been that.
While it’s highly unlikely you will find yourself in a house overrun with snakes or a culture overrun with false gods, are there things in your life you are heading into without the benefit of a “home inspector?” Is it safe and wise to go where you are heading? Be wise and design your plans with the help of the Lord and a Christ-following mentor. I am not just writing to just the teens here. All of us, of any age, need the wisdom only God can provide, often through a mentor.
The young people in the snake story and the Judeans in Jeremiah had their own plans and didn’t let things like lack of a home inspection or God’s blessing get in the way of their plans. Sadly, the young couple had to go into bankruptcy to get out of the house and the people who went to Egypt were destroyed. Do not follow in their paths.
-Maria Knowlton
Reflection Questions
- Can you think of a time when you chose to do it your way instead of God’s way? What was the result? What might have happened instead if you would have done it God’s way?
- If you ask God to inspect your home/life, what might He point out as red flags to be cautious of or totally remove for your safety and the safety of others? What reinforcements would He recommend you add in order to create a stronger home?
- In the end, whose word will stand – God’s or yours? How do you know? Knowing that, how should you life today?
Jude Introduction
The book of Jude was written by Jude, the brother of James and believed to also be the half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55 and 1 Corinthians 9:5).
The book of Jude is very similar to 2 Peter 2, urgently warning against false teachers who have slipped in among the believers. It warns against falling away from the faith, giving as examples the Israelites who were delivered from Egypt but were later destroyed, and angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home. Jude wanted to not only make people aware of false teachers, but also to encourage believers to fight for the truth.
I’ll close with Jude 1:22, “Be merciful to those who doubt, snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”
-Steve Mattison
Seek Grow Love 