Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother a Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name. But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. | ||
| Jeremiah 34:12-17 | ||
| Because Zedekiah and the people broke the covenant they had made concerning freeing the Hebrew slaves, sword, pestilence, and hardship would be free to do their work upon them. The Lord set us free. He released us from the penalty of every sin in our lives. Therefore, we are to forgive others. And sometimes we do that for a while. But then we remember what he said about us or what she did to us and, like Zedekiah, we change our minds and back into our debt we go. Jesus told a parable of a man who was released from a two-million-dollar debt. But when he found someone who owed him a few dollars, he demanded to be paid on the spot. When the king heard about this, he brought the man before him and said, “I released you of a two-million-dollar debt. Yet you demand payment of a man who only owes you a few dollars? You’re going to prison and you won’t get out until you have paid every penny (Matthew 18). How could the man earn money in prison to pay his debt? He couldn’t. There was only one way out of prison: he had to die. How will you get out of the prison of bitterness and judgment, depression and criticism? There’s only one way out: die. Die to yourself and your disappointments, your disillusionment and discouragement and say, “Lord, I’ve been forgiven so much. Help me to die to what others have said about me or done to me.” This is so important because bunches of us are in prison right now mentally and spiritually because we’ve brought back into bondage people we once forgave. Whether it’s a girlfriend, a husband, a boss, or a neighbor, truly forgive them and resist the temptation to bind them again. Pastor Jon Courson | ||
