Freedom
Day 376, Friday, Aug. 22
Jeremiah Chapters 33 and 34
In another section that goes back and forth between threats of doom and promises of God’s love, Jeremiah hints at an answer to one of the great questions of the Christian faith: Why is there evil in the world.
Today’s reading starts out more positive than negative, with God promising, “I will bring health and healing to [Jerusalem]; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.”
And, with the threat of exile looming over them, the people even agree to let their Hebrew slaves have their freedom. Things look good.
But then the power of sin resurfaces, and the people re-enslave their fellow Hebrews who had been in bondage, understandably angering God.
In 34:17 we read, “Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So now I proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
Freedom exercised within God’s law brings blessings. Freedom exercised outside of God’s law can bring consequences that are anything but blessings.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Friday meditation

Job 24:13-17
“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief. The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed. In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

Prayer focus
Lord, let us live lives free from sin and its consequences. May we never mistake disobedience for freedom.