TEXT: ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’ (Jeremiah 31:34). Hallelujah! What a wonderful promise. It sounds too good to be true. So often people regard God as the one who, because of our past, brings down judgment but this scripture reveals God in a totally different light. There are three things I want us to consider: 1. The Problem We can remember what we have done – ‘I remember my faults’ (Genesis 41:9) King David wrote, ‘For I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is always before me’ (Psalm 51:3). The conflict between Russia and Ukraine will trigger memories in those who have been involved in warfare in the past, particularly if they have killed someone. The guilt of such actions never easily goes away. In Exeter I visited a house and spoke to the wife. When asking about her husband, he shouted from the kitchen, “God can’t forgive me, I’ve killed someone”. He explained he was ex-military and knew the Bible said, ‘You shall not kill’.1 He was amazed when I corrected him by saying, “It says you shall not murder. You did not kill in a pre-meditated way but were only following orders”. A look of relief spread across...
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TEXT: ‘So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned first-hand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind’ (Ecclesiastes 1:17 NLT). When God told Solomon to ask for what he really wanted, he replied, ”Wisdom, so I can be a good wise king judging God’s people”.1 His request pleased God and was granted. Solomon started off as a wise king and his kingdom excelled. People came from all over the world just to listen to his wisdom and knowledge. Kind David wrote many of the psalms but his son Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes and there is a fundamental difference between those books. Psalms is about worship but Ecclesiastes is about the goal to know wisdom. David had a heart experience about God but for Solomon it seemed to be head knowledge. This comparison reminded me of when two people were asked to read Psalm 23 to the congregation. The first person pronounced every word faultlessly and spoke with perfect diction, whereas the other spoke every word with a heartfelt meaning. Someone remarked, “The first knew the psalm, but the other knew the Shepherd!” Not content with relying on his God-given wisdom, Solomon turned his attention to understanding madness...
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