Day 217 - Obadiah

Daily Reading:  Obadiah, Jeremiah 1,2

Footnote:  Edom is an example to all the nations that are hostile to God.  Nothing can break God's promise to protect his people from compete destruction.  In the book of Obadiah we see four aspects of God's message of judgment:  1.  evil will certainly be punished; 2.  those faithful to God have hope for a new future; 3.  God is sovereign in human history; 4.  God's ultimate purpose is to establish his eternal kingdom.  The Edomites had been cruel to God's people.  They were arrogant and proud, and they took advantage of others' misfortunes.  Any nation that mistreats people who obey God will be punished, regardless of how invincible they appear.  Similarly we, as individuals, cannot allow ourselves to feel so comfortable with our wealth or security that we fail to help God's people.  This is sin.  And because God is just, sin will be punished.

 

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5

 

Footnote:  God knew you, as he knew Jeremiah, long before you were born or even conceived.  He thought about you and planned for you.  When you feel discouraged or inadequate, remember that God has always thought of you as valuable and that he has a purpose in mind for you.

 

My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 2:13

 

Footnote:  Who would set aside a sparkling spring of water for a cistern, a pit that collected rainwater?  God told the Israelites they were doing that very thing when they turned from him, the spring of living water, to the worship of idols.  Not only that, but the cisterns they chose were broken and empty.  The people had built religious systems in which to store truth, but those systems were worthless.  Why should we cling to the broken promises of unstable "cisterns" (money, power, religious sytems, or whatever transitory thing we are puttig in place of God) when God promises to constantly refresh us with himself, the living water (John 4:10)?

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All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV