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When Zion was a toddler she was obsessed with candles. Anytime the flickering wick was dancing embers she would zero in and have to be pulled away. As she would fall deeper and deeper in love with the flame I would remind her over and over, “Don’t touch. Hot!”

One day I was out in the garage doing something when I heard a terrifying scream followed by a sobbing cry coming from my little girl. I came rushing in to find her fingers covered in wax, a candle wick burnt out, and the evidence of the temptation to touch a flickering wick in plain sight. “No baby,” I yelled. She replied, “Hot!”

Good parents warn and discipline their children out of love and protection. I had warned Zion about the candle hundreds of times, only for her temptations to outweigh it and her to learn the hard way.

Enter Jeremiah 25. Listen to verses 2-3, “Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people in Judah and Jerusalem, 3 “For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now—the Lord has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.”

Imagine God warning us about something for thirty years only for our temptation and rebellion to cost us everything and at the same time remind us how simple it would have been to do what God says.

It’s easy to contextualize this to the people in Judah and Jerusalem, but the reality is God’s word serves the same purpose today. He’s warning us, admonishing us, and preparing us to live like Jesus, and it’s our job to do what He says. It’s as simple as that.

Let today’s reading settle into your Spirit: Is God trying to warn you of something? How are you listening to Him?

Don’t touch the candle – it’s hot whether you believe it or not. Listen to Dad and all will be ok.