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Day 215, or August 3. Be gentle. I'm no match for you, God.

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Our thoughts today are rooted in Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 24. Discipline me, Lord,

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but only in due measure, not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.

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And now the big picture surrounding this verse. Today's verse is taken from Jeremiah's

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third sermon to Judah, God's chosen people. He condemns them for hypocrisy and for their

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worship simply being no more than mere words. It grieves the prophet so much that he actually

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cries as he tells his fellow Jews that judgment is imminent. He takes no joy in giving them

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this warning of coming judgment. He is as sad as the God he represents. In those ancient

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days the idea of a God having such emotions was quite alien. None of the pagan gods would

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have been sad when they enforced judgment on their nations. They would have been seen

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as the all-conquering ruthless God. Our God, on the other hand, empathizes with us, shows

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amazing patience, and in the end sends his only Son to live among us, and finally die

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for us all.

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And now today's action step. We tend to always ask God to be fair and pardon us when

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we do wrong, but if He is fair we're in real trouble, especially when we repeat the

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same old wrongs, give the same old excuses, and then sin all over again. We don't want

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God to be fair, but loving and full of grace, so that we don't get our just desserts,

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but are pardoned. That's exactly what is in the back of Jeremiah's mind, as he asks

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God to correct him and keep him on the straight and narrow. Give me discipline, but make it

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as gentle as possible. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus tells us to pray words like this, forgive

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us as we forgive others. So when we ask God to be gentle with us and to forgive us, we

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must also bear in mind that we are to be the same with those who irritate us and wrong

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us. If God does treat you like He treats others, are you in trouble? If so, you need to change

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now.