I May Forgive
In the
fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah,
this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Take a scroll and write on it all the
words that I have spoken to you against
Then
Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch
wrote on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the LORD that he had
spoken to him. And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, “I am prevented from
entering the house of the LORD; so you go yourself, and on a fast day in the
hearing of the people in the LORD’s house you shall read the words of the LORD
from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also
in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come up from their towns. It may
be that their plea will come before the LORD, and that all of them will turn
from their evil ways, for great is the anger and wrath that the LORD has
pronounced against this people.” And Baruch son of Neriah
did all that the prophet Jeremiah ordered him about reading from the scroll the
words of the LORD in the LORD’s house.
Jeremiah 36:1-8
Then the
king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it
from the chamber of Elishama the secretary; and Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood
beside the king. Now the king was sitting in his winter apartment (it was the
ninth month), and there was a fire burning in the brazier before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them
off with a penknife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the
entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. Yet neither the
king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words, was alarmed, nor did
they tear their garments. Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the
king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. And the king
commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son and Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest
the secretary Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the LORD hid them.
Jeremiah 36:21-26
The
American Library Association has designated this week as Banned Books Week in
celebration of the freedom to read and to express one’s opinion.
The Bible
is the all-time best selling book, but in some parts of the world it is banned
because it is considered dangerous. The Bible is dangerous, however, only to
those who fear finding out that they are wrong. It is dangerous to those who
exploit the weak and the innocent, who use force to keep others enslaved in
poverty and ignorance, who don’t want to give up their favorite sin, who
believe that salvation can be found apart from Christ. No one wants to be told
they are wrong. No one wants to hear that their behavior is putting themselves
and those they love in danger or that God’s patience will eventually wear out.
Yet that was the message God told Jeremiah to write. When His message was read
to King Jehoiakim, the king cut up the scroll and
threw it into the fire. The only way to know we are right is to be willing to
discover where we are wrong. Read the all-time best selling banned book, and
let it reveal to you the truth about God and about yourself.
The Bible shows us a picture of who we really are.
Our Daily Bread – October
3, 2008