Shut De Door
October 24 Jeremiah 44:24-47:7
Object Lessons That Demand Obedience
“The Family Quagmire: “Shut De Door”
“Shut de Door, keep out the devil. Shut De Door, keep the devil in the night. Shut De door, keep out the devil. Light the candle, everything’s alright.” (Shut De Door, Gaithers)
Did you know that DOORS are mentioned about 180 times in the Bible?
That’s a lot of doors! The question is, “Where do they lead?”
We also might want to consider WHO is on the other side of the door and what the purpose of the door really is for… Many of the Bible verses about doors pertain to closed doors, not open doors.
The garage door opened and I drove up my driveway and into my garage after a LONG day at work. It was 113 (not exaggerating) and the humidity was high. The excessive heat warnings were out and there were nightly flash flood warnings. However, no rain came that week… Except for the trickle running down my driveway which originated from my freezer in the garage.
I opened the door of the freezer and felt some of the packages inside. Ah Ohhhhhh! They were all rather warm, soggy, and disintegrating! “This can’t be good!”, I said out loud. I quickly realized that everything in there was ruined! (And I admit that I had too much in there.) My husband would see DOLLAR signs, and I saw my new pints of chocolate peanut butter oat milk ice cream, that I hunted all over town to find. They were ruined and there would be NO SNACK on this hot night! Perspective!
You see, a certain little person in my house wanted to make some Turkey burgers and had gone out to the freezer and the door doesn’t always close easily or tightly. It had been standing open. I have no idea how long the 113 had been seeping in and the cool refreshing temperatures had been drifting out. All I know is that now our dumpsters were loaded with rotten Meat and everything else we had wanted to eat. Neighbors, dogs, and passing by cars probably thought they had put fertilizer on the fields. Oh no… it was just a case of an “OPEN DOOR” gone awry.
How many “open doors” have we read about in regard to God’s chosen people going in a wayward direction?
I don’t know about you but I was so relieved when they pulled Jeremiah out of that dirty pit and the king said, “Look after him well and give him anything he wants.” (39:12) Finally!
The captain of the guard even gave Jeremiah some food and money and let him go and he was going to be able to live in Judah with the remnant that had been left behind. (Sigh of relief.)
Gedaliah was appointed the governor to watch over the poor people of Judah who were left behind and Jeremiah was one of them. He told the people that he meant them no harm and not to be afraid. (More relief!)
Before Jeremiah could even take a long winter’s nap, Ishmael and his ten men suddenly jumped up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor. Ishamel set the next trap and killed eighty men who came to worship at the Temple and dumped their bodies in a cistern. He then made captives of the king’s daughters and other people who had been left under Gedaliah’s care.
Ishmael snuck in through the “FRONT Door” and waltzed right on in…
A man named Johanan rescued people whom Ishmael had captured after he killed Gedaliah. They were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they heard that Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the Babylonian king.
These military leaders approached Jeremiah to pray to the LORD YOUR God for us… They said that they would be faithful and do whatever God told them to do “whether they liked it or not”.
Ten days later Jeremiah came back with a reply to their request. They were to stay right in their land and trust God to protect them from the Babylonians.
“Listen, you remnant of Judah. The LORD has told you: ‘Do not go to Egypt!” Don’t forget this warning I have given you today. For you were not being honest when you sent me to pray to the Lord your god for you.” (42: 19)
What was the response of the people? They replied, “You lie! Baruch convinced you to say this because he wants us to stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or be carried off into exile.” (43: 2-3)
Where do you think this remnant of God is heading?
Sadly, why would any of God’s people ever head back to Egypt, the land of their captivity, that God had miraculously delivered them from with plagues, signs, and wonders? He had even parted the RED SEA for them. Talk about an OPEN DOOR!! But, they weren’t walking through HIS DOORS…
Guy Fieri, a famous Food Network personality has a saying when he really likes a restaurant he visits. “SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!”
This story today reminds us that you need to not only watch the FRONT DOOR that is in plain sight, but you better beware of the “BACK DOOR” where unfinished business, sin, and fear are calling you back into slavery.
Shut De Door keeps out the DEVIL!
