Day 303: Come Near

James 4; Jeremiah 27-28; Psalm 132

This chapter in James continues talking about how we use our words. It talks about not condemning others or saying cruel things about them. It points out the dangers of bragging and planning out our lives before God. And it reveals how dangerous it is to argue and fight for things. All this stuff I've been guilty of time and time again. How do we overcome these things that seem to easy to fall into? James offers a solution to that too: "Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you." The closer and more surrendered to The Lord we are, the less room our selfish nature and Satan have to work. If we can learn to let life, love, grace, beauty, and faith flow from our lips, then we have learned to do one of the most difficult acts of following Jesus there is.

God tells the people of Israel that if they want to live, they will obey the Babylonians, but if they refuse to trust God and obey them, they will die of war, disease, and famine. What is weird about this is that the Babylonians were "wicked" or "evil" and were not God's people. So why would he tell Israel to obey them? Well, Israel had been extremely disobedient to God, they had served other gods, worshiped idols, and refused to surrender to God alone. So God decided he was tired of it, and I guess because he loved them enough, he wanted to (still) give them an opportunity to make things right and live. So he gives them the option to completely humble themselves and trust in a command of God that seems so contradictory, or to continue to be blind and stubborn and suffer the consequences for their disobedience. It would be a hard decision for sure because it seems so backwards. Nonetheless, this was God's command. Other prophets wanted to spread peace and prosperity messages instead, and while that would be a more welcome message, it isn't necessarily true. I pray that we learn to accept the truth of The Lord, and not shy away from something that sounds good.