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- Oct 26, 2007
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And should you [a]seek great things for yourself? Seek them not; for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says the Lord, but your life I will give to you [as your only booty and] as a [snatched] prize of war wherever you go. Jeremiah 45:5 AMPC
Baruch, one of Jeremiah’s scribes, apparently had plans that weren’t in line with the way things were unfolding. Commentators suggest that maybe he had his sights set on advancing to a higher post or office, where he might accumulate wealth and the applause that comes with it. Since he wasn’t getting his way, he complained to Jeremiah, so Jeremiah set him straight in today’s verse.
What do you have your sights set on? Climbing the corporate ladder? Buying a bigger, nicer home? Moving to a nicer part of the city? Something else? What happens if God has other plans? Are you willing to ask Him? Are you willing to submit to His plans once He reveals them?
God promised to keep Baruch alive during the exile, but He also promised that things would get worse before they got better. God has a plan to take you through your times of lack. But you have to stay the course. Forget your big plans and seek Him instead. He’ll be your guiding light when darkness seems to surround you.
Prayer: Lord, I lay my big plans on the altar and offer them as a sacrifice. I desire Your presence and Your guidance more than I desire getting my way.
Footnotes
[a] Baruch plays a role familiar in normal human life today—that of having to take second place, having to play second fiddle. He was of high birth; his grandfather Maaseiah was governor of Jerusalem in the days of King Josiah (II Chron. 34:8). Considering all that Baruch was doing to make Jeremiah’s prophecies permanent by recording them for posterity, it is not surprising that he seems to have expected to share the prophet’s rewards. “To play a prominent part in the impending crisis, to be the hero of a national revival, to gain the favor of the conqueror he announced,” seems to have been his high ideal, his glorious dream. When its realization was denied him, “he sank in despair at the seeming fruitlessness of his efforts” (Sir William Smith, A Dictionary of the Bible). Yet Baruch is an excellent illustration of how little the gift of prophecy depended on men, and how completely it remained for God to grant or deny prominence and recognition to His perhaps equally deserving servants. But each man’s eternal rewards are proportioned according to his faithfulness, and not according to his earthly recognition or the lack of it (Matt. 25:14-30).
Baruch, one of Jeremiah’s scribes, apparently had plans that weren’t in line with the way things were unfolding. Commentators suggest that maybe he had his sights set on advancing to a higher post or office, where he might accumulate wealth and the applause that comes with it. Since he wasn’t getting his way, he complained to Jeremiah, so Jeremiah set him straight in today’s verse.
What do you have your sights set on? Climbing the corporate ladder? Buying a bigger, nicer home? Moving to a nicer part of the city? Something else? What happens if God has other plans? Are you willing to ask Him? Are you willing to submit to His plans once He reveals them?
God promised to keep Baruch alive during the exile, but He also promised that things would get worse before they got better. God has a plan to take you through your times of lack. But you have to stay the course. Forget your big plans and seek Him instead. He’ll be your guiding light when darkness seems to surround you.
Prayer: Lord, I lay my big plans on the altar and offer them as a sacrifice. I desire Your presence and Your guidance more than I desire getting my way.
Footnotes
[a] Baruch plays a role familiar in normal human life today—that of having to take second place, having to play second fiddle. He was of high birth; his grandfather Maaseiah was governor of Jerusalem in the days of King Josiah (II Chron. 34:8). Considering all that Baruch was doing to make Jeremiah’s prophecies permanent by recording them for posterity, it is not surprising that he seems to have expected to share the prophet’s rewards. “To play a prominent part in the impending crisis, to be the hero of a national revival, to gain the favor of the conqueror he announced,” seems to have been his high ideal, his glorious dream. When its realization was denied him, “he sank in despair at the seeming fruitlessness of his efforts” (Sir William Smith, A Dictionary of the Bible). Yet Baruch is an excellent illustration of how little the gift of prophecy depended on men, and how completely it remained for God to grant or deny prominence and recognition to His perhaps equally deserving servants. But each man’s eternal rewards are proportioned according to his faithfulness, and not according to his earthly recognition or the lack of it (Matt. 25:14-30).
