God's Love can be One's Treasure

Prologue

            Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will

            be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine...Exodus 19:5

            I will give you hidden treasures,

            riches stored in secret places,

            so that you may know that I am the Lord,

            the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

            Isaiah 45:3

            For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and 

            not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

"God is love," the Scripture says. Anyone who trust God to be what He says has a immense and awesome treasure. For God will look with delight those who love Him with their mind, soul and heart. "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

God Decrees Disaster for
People Who Spurn His Love

Jeremiah 16:1-13 

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.” For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”

For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the Lord. “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.

“And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.

“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’ then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’ Continue reading ...verses 14-18

Epilogue

God Teaches People of
His Power and Might
That they Might Return

Jeremiah 16:19-21

Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in time of distress,
to you the nations will come
from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,
worthless idols that did them no good.
Do people make their own gods?
Yes, but they are not gods!”

“Therefore I will teach them—
this time I will teach them
my power and might.
Then they will know
that my name is the Lord.

N. B. All scripture taken from New International Version by BibleGateway.com