Preacher Refuge Rash Vows

PRAYER - "The Preacher Seeks Refuge"

Jeremiah was feeling quite overwhelmed by the downfall of his nation. God made it clear that He was not going to change His mind about their overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar. In desperation, Jeremiah pleaded with God for his personal survival. "O LORD, ...remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke." Even if the whole world fails, you can still be saved!

Jeremiah 15:16 - "Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name."

PRINCIPALS - "The Unmarried And Childless Prophet"

The word of the LORD told Jeremiah not to take a wife or to have sons or daughters. They would only die grievous deaths, and would neither be buried nor mourned. God took all peace, lovingkindness and mercies from the people, to provoke them to ask why the LORD pronounced all this great evil on them. Eventually, God will force every sinner to stand face to face with his sins.

Jeremiah 16:11 - "Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me."

PRINCIPLES - "Take The Precious From The Vile"

God answered Jeremiah's personal plea for help with a challenge. "If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them." Nothing is more effective than isolating the precious things of truth, righteousness, and holiness from all the contaminants of sin. God will be delighted. 

Jeremiah 15:21 - "I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee."

PROPHECIES - "I Will Send For Many Fishers; They Shall Fish Them"

Just as God closed up shop in Jerusalem, and liquidated His apostate people from His holy land, He spoke intriguingly to the future, prophesying that "Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth." Then He added the strangest statement: "They shall fish them." How can you read that and not remember Jesus telling Peter, "I will make you to become fishers of men"? Ages ago, God knew the only way Israel would ever be saved is by the Gospel of Christ.

Jeremiah 16:16 - "I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them."

Here’s another BIBLE STUDY 

Rash Vows

Jephthah vowed that if God gave him victory over the Ammonites, he would burn a sacrifice of whatever met him first when he returned home. Surely he was thinking about goats, lambs, or calves. But when he returned, his only DAUGHTER met him first! "...he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! ...thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back," Judges 11:35. It is advisable never to make a vow. 

Judges 11:39 - Jephthah "...did with her according to his vow which he had vowed."

Trouble With Ephraim

The Ephraimites had ego problems. They troubled Gideon, falsely claiming that he excluded them from war with Midian. Later, they troubled Jephthah, complaining that he did not invite them to war against the Ammonites. Jephthah HAD called them, but they were "no-shows"! Reality check: Ephraim never drove the Canaanites from their own territory, yet wanted superiority over all the tribes. Their ego antagonized Jephthah into civil war with them, and he won handily. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall," Proverbs 16:18.

Judges 12:6 - "...there fell at that time of Ephraim forty and two thousand."

Manoah's Prayer

Again, Israel sinned against God, and oppressors overtook them: Philistines - for forty years. God sent an angel to Manoah's barren wife, informing them that they would have a son (Samson). He would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The angel ordered him to be consecrated a Nazarite, but Manoah wanted to know how they should raise him. He prayed that God would send the angel again to clarify the instructions. Ask God again, when you do not understand.

Judges 13:9 - "...God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman."

Samson

The simple fact of Samson's birth was a fulfillment of prophecy. God declares the end from the beginning. Throughout history, God has sovereignly pre-ordained individuals to come on the scene for a specific time, a specific place and a specific reason. The angel told Manoah's wife she would bear a son who would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. As long as God's people cry for deliverance, God will continue to send deliverers.

Judges 13:24 - "And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him."