The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Thursday, 15 December 2016 - Jeremiah: not all dreams are worth trustingDaily Scripture: Jeremiah 23:16 Adonai-Tzva’ot says:
“Don’t listen to the words of the prophets
who are prophesying to you.
They are making you act foolishly,
telling you visions from their own minds
and not from the mouth of Adonai.
17 They keep reassuring those who despise me,
‘Adonai says you will be safe and secure,’
and saying to all living by their own stubborn hearts,
‘Nothing bad will happen to you.’
18 But which of them has been present at the council
of Adonai to see and hear his word?
Who has paid attention to
his word enough to hear it?”
25 “I have heard what these prophets prophesying lies in my name are saying: ‘I’ve had a dream! I’ve had a dream!’ 26 How long will this go on? Is [my word] in the hearts of prophets who are prophesying lies, who are prophesying the deceit of their own minds? 27 With their dreams that they keep telling each other, they hope to cause my people to forget my name; just as their ancestors forgot my name when they worshipped Ba‘al.
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Reflection Questions:
The prophet Jeremiah’s assignment from God was a difficult one. He had to tell the Israelites that their wicked choices made it impossible for God to keep protecting them, that they’d save lives by surrendering to the invading Babylonian army. To make things even harder, he found false “prophets” claiming that they’d had dreams telling them that all would be well for the Israelites, counter to Jeremiah’s warnings of the dangers of their disastrous spiritual course.
- It’s not hard to understand why many Israelites preferred to listen to the message of the false prophets. There are times when God’s message is “All will go well for you,” but not when we are following our own willful hearts. It’s important that we validate that our sense of God’s message to us is not just a projection of our own wishes. What are some of the best ways of double-checking how well a dream or “inner nudge” fits with God’s purposes?
- Our technology, which can enrich our lives in so many ways, can also add to the challenge Jeremiah addressed. If we choose, we can look only at web sites that affirm what we already wish to believe, that never challenge any of our biases or self-righteous attitudes. Jeremiah never saw a computer—but in what ways did his warnings also speak to your heart and your reading and viewing patterns today?
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Our GPS Insights blog shares reflections each day from our pastors, staff and congregants.Read today's reflection from Janelle Gregory. Janelle serves on the Resurrection staff as a Human Resources Specialist.
I love that at the heart of our faith is a story of adoption. Joseph took on the role of fathering Jesus, even though he wasn’t his biological son. It was Joseph who kissed the boy’s scraped knee, who worked all day to provide for Jesus’ needs, and who taught him the lessons of life and what it meant to be a godly man. He chose to help raise the Messiah. Not exactly a wimpy undertaking!
There is something beautiful about Joseph’s decision to raise Jesus as his son. I imagine the struggles that he must have felt – “Can I do this? What if he doesn’t love me like a dad? Do I have what it takes to be his dad? Will he ever see me as his father? Will he always compare me to his actual father?”
I’m sure that Joseph had these or similar thoughts, because these are the same thoughts I had when we first fostered our son. Isaac came to live with us when he was 10. We had no other children, so I was very new to figuring out the whole mothering thing, let alone mothering a child who has had a complex, messy life.
I was completely overwhelmed by the process. I felt inadequate and awkward, making things up as I went along, just trying to do my best. Sometimes I got it right, and then other times I was a complete failure of a mom. But even through my deficiencies, God kept molding us together as a family. And I always knew he was calling me into this role to raise this child as my own. I’ll admit that there were days of exhaustion and tears, and this calling was the only thing that kept me going.
But then I think of where we are today. Our family is getting ready to celebrate four years since the day we became official, the day we adopted Isaac. I reflect back on these four years and all of what God has done in and through our son, my husband, and me. We’ve all grown and changed through this journey, and I’m ever so grateful for the opportunity to be Isaac’s mom. I don’t think of Isaac as my adoptive son. He’s just my son. Period. And I pray every day that he’ll know how much he is loved, by his family and by God.
In the end, I bet that is what Joseph felt too. I’m sure that there were plenty of times when it was a challenge to raise Jesus (talk about a know-it-all kid!), but I also believe that he felt an abundance of joy in being Jesus’ daddy. And more than anything, I’m sure that Joseph wanted Jesus to know his love of father and how that reflects the love of his heavenly Father.
Perhaps you might consider how you might be called to foster or adopt. There are many kids waiting for forever homes right now. Maybe that home is yours.
- Check out opportunities in Kansas: https://www.adoptkskids.org/children/
- Across the United States: http://www.adoptuskids.org/
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