Jer. 36:25 " Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them."

I'm sure that the four little words "he would not hear" stand among some of the saddest in Scripture. I always want it to be that he could not hear, or he did not hear, or some other rendition that takes responsibility away from the individual's will. It seem too awful to admit that people choose whether or not they'll hear.
Hearing is the precursor to obedience. You must hear what God has to say before you do it. Without a willing ear, there is no obedient heart. In this passage Jehoiakim, the king, is engaged in burning piece by piece Jeremiah's scroll as it is read. The appeal to stop is lost in the flames because he would not hear.
How often do God's people miss what God has to say because we have predecided that the Scripture does not mean what it says or that it doesn't apply to current culture, or some other devised excuse that excises a passage from present responsibility? Then, when the appeal to hear the Word comes from the Holy Spirit we choose to ignore it. Let us determine to be a people that will hear what God has to say no matter how counterculture it may be.

Just enough faith to start.....but not enough will to finish

Jer. 34:10-11 "Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant and everyone his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.
But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids."

It is so easy to start a project or to get excited about a big plan and begin it. How many of those ideas and projects make it beyond the first few days of excitement and beginning?

God's people had ignored His word for many years. They had not practiced the year of the Sabbath where every seven years they were to set free their brethren who had become slaves in the previous six years. As Judah was under siege, and Jeremiah was proclaming God's coming judgement, God's people covenanted to obey, and set their brethren free.

Their intentions were enough to get them to begin. They set them free, "But afterward they turned" and reenslaved their fellow Israelites. This reminds me of The Parable of the Sower in Mt. 13:3-8. Some of the seed fell among thorns and were eventually choked by them and became unfruitful. According to Mt. 13:22, the thorns here represent the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.

I can imagine that the struggle of doing your own work when you'd previously had slaves, and the cost of paying a servant would be a definite deterrent to willing obedience in the slaveowners' minds. But just because it was difficult and required hard work and sacrifice did not mean that they were not required to obey God's word and do it. God condemns their reenslavement of their brethren in Jer. 34:15-17 and pronounces definitive judgement on them for it.

1Cor. 9:24 "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain it.

You have to finish the race to win the prize. Starting isn't enough.

" Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day ,'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. 7:21-23

Just some observations on this passage that struck me this morning. First of all, Many will say...... It appears that many people are going to find themselves in this situation, which I find to be a very sobering idea. Sobering both from the obvious personal perspective but also from the perspective of being careful not to propagate the incorrect ideas/doctrine that puts people in this place. It is so comfortable and easy to go with the flow, and not to confront or stand or even deal with things that are being taught in our present day which are simply not true and if taken to the extreme put people in this very place.
Church/Christian work is not the measure that will be used to determine relationship. It is obvious in the passage that the question is whether or not Jesus knew the individuals. The individuals point to their Christian works done in Jesus name to prove relationship. Jesus is clear in declaring that no relationship existed, and that the evidence of that vacuum was that they were workers of iniquity. I think it's extremely easy to think that our Christian endeavors somehow prove personal holiness and excuse personal wickedness. Apparently not.

spiritual sloth

Heb. 6:12 "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

The word translated slothful in KJV and sluggish in NKJV is Strongs # 3576 meaning lazy literally or sluggish and stupid(dull, slothful) figuratively. The idea of spiritual sloth as a separate issue is I confess a relatively new one to consider. Proverbs addresses the issues and fruit of daily physical sloth over and over so it is a familiar topic. But this idea of being spiritually slothful is much more serious. It's contrasted here with the virtues of faith and patience and it is clear that the inheritance of the promises of God is what's at stake.
It is so easy to start something. There's the excitement of the newness, the thrill of a new activity or venture. But once the newness wears off, it is so difficult to continue. It is so easy to decide at first to be faithful in some new practice or virtue, only to sell it cheaply when the cost is faith (believing that it matters and is required) and patience (waiting to see any fruit or difference from the choice).
Scripture here admonishes us to be followers (imitators) of those who throough faith and patience inherited the promises. Examples abound in the Word. We are bound to search them out and imitate them.

Exodus 9: 20-21

Exodus 9:20-21 "He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field."

The Egyptians here made two different responses to the same truth. Some believed it was true and sheltered their servants and cattle to protect them from the coming plague. Others disregarded the message brought by Moses from God, and left their cattle and servants out in the elements.
Faith always affects behavior. You will either act or not act based on what you really believe. You could tell immediately which Egyptians regarded the word of the Lord and which disregarded it based on what they did. So, with ourselves you can tell what we really believe by how we respond to the truths we read in the Word. If I believe something to be true, I will act accordingly. If I say I believe it but leave my cattle out in the elements, I didn't really believe.

Joshua 24:15

Joshua 24:15 "Choose you this day whom you will serve....."

I have always read this verse in the context of the time period as "Choose you THIS DAY....." meaning a day when you make a decision from which there's no turning back. A day when you make a revolutionary choice to follow Christ so that your life and choices will never be the same.

I heard the verse a different way tonight, as "Choose you THIS day....." . It seems like an inconsequential difference, but it is true that on each individual day we must choose who we will serve. I wonder what kind of difference it would make each day if we made a conscious committed choice that THIS day we would serve the Lord.

ancient landmarks

Proverbs 22:28 "Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set."

This verse made sense to me for Israel, because for them the land was the inheritance of the Lord. To remove a landmark (Strongs 1366) or boundary would be to either steal land that was not part of your inheritance, or to give away the inheritance of the Lord. To Israel that would have been akin to Esau's despising his birthright.
At first I couldn't see how this verse applied to today. However, the word "remove" in the Hebrew, (Strongs 5253) denotes removal as retreating or turning away from. For me then this verse was a reminder not to despise or ignore "boundaries" that have been held by believers over time. If the church has generally held that certain practices were worldly or exemplilfied worldliness, it behooves me to examine and respect those principles rather than dismissing them without thought as inapplicable or out of date.
It would also extend itself then to those practices that the Lord has called me to. Just like the verse "Buy the truth and sell it not... ( Prov.23:23a), which encourages us to hold onto those things that the Lord has called us to in our lives and not to "sell" those truths for worldly goals or temporal pleasure.