Den of robbers
Day 361, Thursday, Aug. 7
Jeremiah Chapter 7 – 8:3
The anger that Jesus displayed when he cleared the temple of the sellers and moneychangers is suggested in 7:9-11.
“Will you steal, murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah reminds the people that the commandments of God, from the very beginning, were not just about ritual and sacrifices, but had the command, “Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.”
Instead, he sees the people looking at the temple as a place of safety from accountability and punishment even as they live lives far from what God has required.
“If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.”
-Rev. Mark Fleming
Thursday meditation
Job 16:15-17:2
“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.
“Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.
“Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.
My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me. Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
Prayer focus
Reform our ways and actions, Lord, that we may live in your kingdom.