Jeremiah 10:1-11:23, Colossians 3:18-4:18, Psalm 78:56-72, Proverbs 24:28-29
Today is the 8th day of October, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a joy to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire together and immerse ourselves in the Scriptures’, let them speak, let them speak for themselves. And so, today we will be heading back out into the book of Jeremiah before winding our way into Colossians in the New Testament. We’re reading from the Common English Bible this week, Jeremiah chapters 10 and 11 today.
Commentary:
Okay, so in the book of Jeremiah today, we read this: the rituals of the nations are hollow, a tree from the forest is chopped down and shaped by the craftsman’s tools, it’s overlaid with silver and gold and fastened securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over. They are no different than a scarecrow in a cucumber patch. They can’t speak, they must be carried because they can’t walk. Don’t be afraid of them because they can’t do harm or good. So, basically what’s being described here is the development or construction of an idol, for idol worship, right. An idol to be worshiped. Otherwise known as idolatry. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed on our journey so far, but it’s kind of hard to miss; idolatry is a major theme in the Scriptures, we encounter it all the time and the Scriptures do more than just frown on the behavior. It is a detestable thing. It is the worship of something false, a false God. And, the Bible pulls no punches about where that practice goes; it makes God angry and leads to destruction. And so, we could think you know, I can’t really imagine going down to my local Home Depot or whatever and getting some two-by-fours and some others nails and screws and some other stuff and making a God for myself that I’m actually going believe is real and worship and ask for help and clarity. And even if you did make something, it’s not the something that’s the bad or the evil right. So, a craftsman, even in the Scriptures who makes this thing, the Bible just says it’s a thing like, it’s a scarecrow. It can’t do good or bad. It’s a thing, it doesn’t walk around it has no motives like, it’s a thing and so it’s benign in that way. But once a person gives their heart in worship to that thing, that’s different, because when you give your heart in worship to something you are giving allegiance and fealty, but you are also humbling yourself and surrender to the lordship of the thing that you are worshiping. And you expect that your worship will result in something good for you, whether that be that you get rain for your crops or that the birth of your child is healthy or whatever. That is where the problem arises. That does not sit with the Lord most high at all, because God is like, that thing you made and you’re giving your heart to in worship is false, it can’t do anything for you but what it is doing is drawing you away from Me, you are believing that behind that idol that you are worshiping is some sort of deity that can do something for you and it’s not true. And so, we can understand when God says I am a jealous God; He is the only God. And so, to watch people give their hearts in worship to a false God, we understand…we understand the point here. However, if giving your heart and worship, humbling yourself under the lordship of something with an expectation of life, something life-giving to be returned to you, if that’s idolatry than just about anything is capable of being an idol. So, if we’re expecting anything outside of the relationship with God that we have, if we’re depending on anything outside of our intimacy with God, to bring us life, to fulfill us and to ultimately sustain us, then there’s a problem and it’s not going work, it’s not going anywhere. As we continue through the prophet’s, idolatry will continue to be a theme. In fact, it’s so prevalent that it’s easy to just kind of ignore and just look at, you know, their worshiping false idols, actual statues of some sort, some kind of construction, and we can just kind of check out, not realizing that it’s not the construction of the idol, it’s the worship of the idol. And so, we can look around in our own lives at man-made things that have no eyes, ears cannot walk, cannot talk, cannot do anything for us and look at the things that we’re depending on and invite the Holy Spirit into ways that we may be depending upon something for life outside of God, it is ultimately idolatry.
Prayer:
And so Holy Spirit, we invite You into that. It’s very clear in the Scriptures that this is not a good thing and so we want to be aggressive in our consideration here. This is an insidious thing that draws us away from You, and none of us are bowing down and giving our hearts in worship to a car, something else, but we can love these things as if they give us identity. Or we can place our hope in money or occupation or any number of things. Ultimately, believing that they are our source as opposed to, they are a gift from our Source, which is You. So, Holy Spirit help us to not have that all convoluted, to understand that we are utterly and hopelessly dependent upon You for life and that is how it should be. That’s not curse or a frightening thing. It’s a comfort, You are the most high God, You will not fail, You are our Father so we worship You, we humble ourselves under Your Lordship. We look to You for life, for fulfillment, for provision, You are the Source and everything good in our life comes from Your hand. Holy Spirit help us to not lose sight of that, not lose track of that and find ourselves dependent on something that cannot save. Help us Holy Spirit we pray, in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.
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And that is it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Hi, I called in a couple months ago, I’m still not caught up, I’m in July, I’m in July, I’m in late July and I’m a new Christian, my name is Jesse I…I called in a couple months ago about some issues with my father and with my fiancé. And, I’m struggling right now, I’m struggling right now, I’m having a rough time at the moment. I’m not, I’m not okay. And I don’t know why but I’m not okay but I’m trying. But I’m praying and I listen to my Bible every day but temptations tough for me and I’m having a rough time letting go of a lot of it. I’m doing better but I’m not there yet. Please pray for me, please pray that I can maintain strength, that I can let go of temptation, that I can figure things out. I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday to hopefully, Lord, hopefully fix my ADHD, which I know might sound a little goofy to some people but it’s really been crippling for me. So, I go to the doctors to see if I can get something for it to correct it so I can function. Cause I can’t function right now. My brain is too scrambled right now. And I’m praying for healing and I’m praying for help. But yeah, this is Jesse, thanks DAB.
This is Kathy from Kentucky. I recently lost my part-time work from home job. It wasn’t paying that much and I wasn’t getting a lot of work but it was better than nothing. And I’m retired and I need something else to do, to bring in a little money and to make me feel useful. Cause social security doesn’t pay for everything. Money is very tight. I’m lonely and bored and broke most of the time. So, I ask your prayers for something to do, to get me out of the house and to bring in a little bit of money. Sometimes they don’t want to hire a person with white hair but I can work as well as the young people. Thank you.
Hello, Daily Audio Bible family, this is Sinner and Saint. I haven’t called in, in a while. But I love hearing you, and following along with Brian. I learn so much from this website or app. I’m calling today for prayer for a neighbor, a young woman named Sandra. She’s age 30-35 and has stage IV ovarian cancer and breast cancer. A few days ago, she had a double lumpectomy of her breasts. The doctors didn’t want to do a mastectomy because of the invasiveness and the healing needed and mostly because she’s stage IV with ovarian cancer. She’s already had a complete hysterectomy as well as chemo and radiation and she did well with these and they were successful. Now she’s recovering and hoping for more time and I pray in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior that Sandra can feel His presence and His comfort and that her eyes and the eyes and hearts of her family can be opened to know You, Lord. And, please let her have a desire to know You, Lord. Please give her more time and the ability to love You. Please pray for her, my friends, my Daily Audio Bible, and I wish you a good day thanks.
Today is October 5th this is Marcio from New Jersey. I want to encourage everyone to remain in the word, stay in the word every day, every day, regardless of what you’re going through. Regardless of whatever sickness, whatever disease, whatever difficulty in your family, your children. Whatever the circumstances, remain steadfast in the word. The word of God is very, very powerful. The word of God is gonna build your faith. It’s gonna make you strong. You know, back in 2012, I shared this with you sometime back, I was diagnosed with Lupus. I heard, I hear a lot of people calling in with this disease. God healed me through His word, I remained in the word. You know, I was on dialysis, kidney failure, medication, everything but I kept the faith, I remained in the word, I listened to this program every day. Sitting in the hospital I listened to this program and God healed me. I’m telling you, stay in the word. Our God is too powerful, God is the healer. Jesus Christ is the healer. I know that the facts are there that you have that Lupus has been seen in your body, cancer or whatever, but I’m telling you, that the bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, the Truth and the Life. The truth, the truth is in Jesus Christ, the truth is not in the facts, the truth is not in your reality the truth is in God’s word and what God’s word says. Thank you so much Brian for this platform. I would not be here without it. I want to encourage everyone. Put your resources towards this platform, sew your seed here. This is good ground to receive a harvest, I’m telling you. Stay in the word, God bless you all. I love you.
Hi DAB, it’s Refined by the Fire in Ohio. There was two groups of people over the last few days, different calls that came in that have really just been on my heart to pray for. God’s Smile and Byron’s wife and Charlie’s wife Julie. Just everybody that deals with chronic illness and pain on a daily basis that, I know, I have a family member who also has a chronic illness and sometimes it’s hard because from the outside you can look to quote “just fine” and you know, you do just a great job of hiding the anguish and the torment that your body is putting you through. But I just wanted to say I’ve been praying for you guys. And then the other caller was Nellie, just saying she was losing sleep because she’s having a lot of dark and depressing thoughts and it just reminded me to just of everybody, whether it’s a season and a short period that we struggle with those things, or whether something you’ve struggled with your whole life, just now that you’re not alone in that. And there’s a verse from Isaiah that came to mind for all of us. That just says the steadfast Lord, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and His mercies never come to an end. They’re new every morning and great is His faithfulness. And it just reminded me just to send that out to each one of you guys that He loves us, He’s with us, and He’s carrying us and I love you guys so much. I’ll continue to pray for you.