The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 233: Correct me, O Lord (2022)

Episode Date: August 21, 2022

Fr. Mike shows us from our reading of Jeremiah that when we give our hearts and minds over to idols we become foolish. The way of man is not in himself, we need the Lord to guide and correct us. In Ezekiel, we read about the vision of the measuring of the temple and Fr. Mike shows us how the early Church Fathers would read the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. Today’s readings are Jeremiah 10-11, Ezekiel 40, and Proverbs 15:5-8. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension, using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 233. We are reading today from Jeremiah chapter 10 and 11, Ezekiel chapter 40, and Proverbs chapter 15, verses 5 through 8. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great

Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year for a free download of the entire year. You can also subscribe to this podcast and receive daily episodes if you would like. As I said, it is day 233. We're reading Jeremiah 10 and 11, Ezekiel 40, which is the beginning of those next eight chapters describing the construction of this temple, and Proverbs chapter 15, verses 5 through 8. The book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 10. Idolatry has brought ruin on Israel. Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord,

Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, because the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are false. A tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. Men deck it with silver and gold. They fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak. They have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. There is none like you, O Lord. You are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O king of the nations? For this is your

due. For among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. They are both stupid and foolish. The instruction of idols is but wood. Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsmen and the hand of the goldsmith. Their clothing is violet and purple. They are all the work of skilled men. But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King.

At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. Thus shall you say to them, The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens. It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Every man is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,

for his images are false and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion. At the time of their punishment they shall perish. Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things. And Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name. Gather up your bundle from the ground, O you who dwell under siege. For thus says the Lord, Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it. Woe is me because of my hurt. My wound is grievous, but I said,

truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it. My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone from me, and they are not. There is no one to spread my tent again, and to set up my curtains. For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord. Therefore, they have not prospered and all their flock is scattered. Listen, a rumor, behold, it comes, a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals. I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not

in man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure, not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. Pour out your wrath upon the nations that know you not, and upon the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation. Chapter 11. Israel and Judah have broken the covenant. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Cursed be the man who does not heed the words of this covenant which I commanded your You shall say to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.

Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not. Again the Lord said to me, There is revolt among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus says the Lord,

behold, I am bringing evil upon them, which they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to burn incense to Baal. Therefore, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf,

for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. What right has my beloved in my house when she has done vile deeds? Can vows and sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? The Lord once called you a green olive tree, fair with excellent fruit. But with the roar of a great tempest, he will set fire to it,

and its branches will be consumed. The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil which the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Baal. The Lord made it known to me, and I knew. Then you showed me their evil deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the

living, that his name be remembered no more. But, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously, who test the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, and none of them shall be left. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.

The book of the prophet Ezekiel, Chapter 40 The Vision of Measuring the Temple In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was conquered, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me in the visions of God into the land of Israel and set me down upon a very high mountain on which was a structure like a city opposite me. When he brought me there, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like bronze with a line of flax and a measuring reed in his hand. And he was standing in the gateway and the man said to me, Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your mind upon all that I

shall show you. For you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel. And behold, there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area, and the length of the measuring reed in the man's hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length. So he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed, and the height, one reed. Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep, and the side rooms, one reed long, and one reed broad, and the space between the side rooms, five cubits,

and the threshold of the gate, by the vestibule of the gate in the inner end, one reed. Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits, and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate in the inner end one read. Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits, and its jams, two cubits, and the vestibule of the gate was at the inner end. And there were three side rooms on either side of the east gate. The three were of the same size, and the jams on either side were of the same size. Then he measured the breadth of the opening of the gateway, 10 cubits, and the breadth of the gateway, 13 cubits. There was a barrier before the side rooms, one cubit on either side, and the side rooms were six cubits on either side. Then he measured the gate from the back of the one side room to the back of the other, a breadth of 5 and 20 cubits from door to door. He measured also the vestibule, twenty cubits, and round about

the vestibule of the gateway was the court. From the front of the gate at the entrance to the end of the inner vestibule of the gate was fifty cubits, and the gateway had windows round about, narrowing inwards into their jams in the side rooms, and likewise the vestibule had windows round about inside, and on the jams were palm trees. Then he brought me into the outer court, and behold, there were chambers and a pavement round about the court, thirty chambers fronted on the pavement. And the pavement ran along the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates. This was the lower pavement. Then he measured the distance from the inner front of the lower gate to the outer front of the inner court, a hundred cubits.

Then he went before me to the north, and behold, there was a gate which faced toward the north, belonging to the outer court. He measured its length and its breadth. Its side rooms, three on either side, and its jams and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. And its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate which faced toward the east, and seven steps led up to it, and its vestibule was on the inside. And opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court, and

he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. And he led me toward the south, and behold, there was a gate on the south, and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. And he led me toward the south, and behold, there was a gate on the south, and he measured its jams and its vestibule. They had the same size as the others. And there were windows round about in it, and in its vestibule, like the windows of the others, its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. And there were seven steps leading up to it,

and its vestibule was on the inside, and it had palm trees on its jams, one on either side. And there was a gate on the south of the inner court, and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, a hundred cubits. Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate, and he measured the south gate. It was of the same size as the others. Its side rooms, its jams, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and there were windows round about in it, and in its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and there were windows round about in it and in its vestibule. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits, and there were vestibules round about twenty-five cubits long and five

cubits broad. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and palm trees were on its jams, and its stairway had eight steps. Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gate. It was of the same size as the others. Its side rooms, its jams, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and there were windows round about in it and in its vestibule, its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its jams, one on either side, and its stairway had eight steps. Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it. It had the same size as the others. Its side rooms, its jams, and its vestibule were of the same size as

the others, and it had windows round about. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its jams, one on either side, and its stairway had eight steps. There was a chamber with its door in the vestibule of the gate, where the burnt offering was to be washed. And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on either side, on which the burnt offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering were to be slaughtered. And on the outside of the vestibule at the entrance of the guilt offering were to be slaughtered. And on the outside of the vestibule at the entrance of the north gate were two tables, and on the other side of the vestibule of the gate were two tables. Four tables were on the inside, and four tables on the outside of the side of the gate, eight tables on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered. And there were

also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high, on which the instruments were to be laid with which the burnt offerings and the sacrifices were slaughtered. And hooks, a hand-breadth long, were fastened round about within. And on the tables the flesh of the offering was to be laid. Then he brought me from without into the inner court. And behold, there were two chambers in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate facing south, the other at the side of the south gate facing north. And he said to me,

This chamber which faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple, and the chamber which faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who alone among the sons of Zadok, who alone among the sons of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him. And he measured the court, a hundred cubits long and a hundred cubits broad, four square, and the altar was in front of the temple. Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the jams of the vestibule, five cubits on either side, and the breadth of the gate was fourteen cubits, and the side walls of theule, five cubits on either side. And the breadth of the gate was fourteen cubits,

and the side walls of the gates were three cubits on either side. The length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and the breadth twelve cubits, and ten steps led up to it. And there were pillars beside the jams on either side. The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 15, Verses 5-8 A fool despises his father's instruction, but he who heeds admonition is prudent. In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked. The lips of the wise spread knowledge, not so the minds of fools.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. Thank you once again for bringing us back to this day, this new day that you've given to us, a day where we can receive your word, a day that we get to, even if we struggled through,

gosh, Lord, thank you so much. You continue to speak to us, a day where we can receive your word, a day that we get to, even if we struggled through, gosh, Lord, thank you so much. You continue to speak to us. You continue to call us to yourself and you continue to call us to repentance, even in the midst of confusion, even in the midst of your word that we don't necessarily understand. And especially in the midst of your word that we don't respond to with genuine hearts, with authentic hearts and with authentic hearts, and with truly repentant hearts. Help us to repent. Help us to turn back to you more and more every single day so that you may be glorified and your people may be sanctified. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Okay, so gosh, we have Jeremiah. And Jeremiah, there's this recognition. You know, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay. So gosh, we have Jeremiah and Jeremiah, there's this recognition. I just, you know, Jeremiah 10 and Jeremiah 11, very, very different, right? So we talk about Jeremiah 10, if you can remember this, because sometimes after that long section of Ezekiel, you might be thinking, all I can think of right now is cubits. So what was Jeremiah 10 again about? Well, it's about idolatry and about how idolatry has brought ruin on Israel. And it just talks about, yeah, there's artisans, there's people who are skillful in fashioning wood and fashioning gold and fashioning these other things. But what they're making is they're making false gods, right? They're making idols. And these idols are powerless. These idols are not only useless,

they make us stupid. In fact, that's what verse 14 says. Every man is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols for his images are false and there's no breath in them. They're worthless, work of delusion. And what happens is then when we give ourselves to idols, we become like them, foolish, right? We become stupid. And I just, I think it's kind of a, gosh, you know, you don't often see the word stupid in the Bible.

And so when you get it, you want to capitalize on this. But we recognize, right, that when we give our hearts and we give our minds over to anything other than the Lord, there is a foolishness. And I'm not just saying that we have interests in anything other than God. I'm saying when we give our hearts to something, we give our minds over, when we let as our North Star, like, you know, that center of gravity be anything other than God, what happens is we've now traded the true God for whatever false God we have. We've talked about idolatry for the last couple of days. And there's verse 23 in chapter 10 of Jeremiah, where he says, I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

And then there's a sense of like, we talked about that, was it yesterday, I think, maybe? We talked about the twofold movement of repentance is, I distrust myself and I trust in the Lord. And that's what Jeremiah is saying here. He's saying that the way of man is not in himself. Like if I just trust in myself, it's not in me to direct my steps. That's why then he goes on to say,

correct me, O Lord, but in just measure, right? That sense of, I love this. Here's Jeremiah, who's like, no, Lord, please direct me, guide me, correct me, but in just measure, not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. And I think that is just, you know, sometimes that can be our prayer, right? Where it's just, okay, God, please direct me, please correct me, but just be nice about it, be gentle about it. I want to be as attentive to your voice and as attentive to your movements as I possibly can be. But I do also know that, Lord, you might have to raise your voice. You might have

to call out to me in some ways. You know, Jeremiah chapter 10 ends and then Jeremiah 11 begins. And one of the things that we see in Jeremiah 11 is that not only is he preaching, remember, against Israel and Judah, that they've broken the covenant, but then also he recognizes that there are people who are plotting against him. There are those Jews in Jerusalem. Remember, that's where he's preaching. That's what Jeremiah is preaching right now. There are Jews in Jerusalem who do not like the preaching of Jeremiah. In fact, they are going to try to kill him. They're going to throw him into a cistern. Jeremiah is not going to have a good time. And we get this from the beginning. I mean, here in chapter 11, where it says, verse 18, he says, the Lord made it known to me and I knew. Then you showed me their evil deeds.

I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me. They devised schemes saying, let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more. And yeah, here's Jeremiah who just is, again, it's a rough life for the prophet Jeremiah because he will never get reprieve. You know, spoiler alert, how this will end for Jeremiah is that when the people of Jerusalem are carted off to Egypt, he will go with them. And he will be, he essentially dies in exile. He dies in Egypt. He dies in what looks like complete and utter failure because he's preached for 40 to 50 years and no

one will have listened. In fact, as we saw here in Jeremiah chapter 11, they will be conspiring against him. They will be conspiring to even kill him. The people that he loves. Remember, Jeremiah is the weeping prophet and he doesn't just weep for the Lord and for his name and for his glory. He weeps for the people who will have to experience this justice, right? They'll have to experience this correction and this punishment. And he does not want that. And yet those same people that he weeps for are going to be the ones that try to kill him and that don't trust him. And it's, again, it's not an easy road for Jeremiah. And we're going to walk with him for a while now because we got to stay close to Jeremiah because he is such an image of

Jesus Christ, right? He is such an image of the one who's speaking the truth and is hated for it, who loves and is hated for it. And that idea that being able to see in the Old Testament, the New Testament, right? Be able to see like foresh being able to see in the Old Testament, the New Testament, right? Be able to see like foreshadowings or types in the Old Testament of what's going to be fulfilled in the New Testament is an ancient Christian way of reading the Bible. We read the Old Testament in light of the New. In fact, St. Augustine once said that the Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New Testament is hidden in the Old. And so I bring that up because in Ezekiel chapter 40, which will be fun, we'll get through it, you guys, this description of the temple and

cubits and all these kinds of things, there have been in the history of the church, many saints of the church, many doctors of the church, many people explaining the scriptures who have dived deeply into these things, who have a New Testament lens on this Old Testament vision of Ezekiel in the temple. For example, in Ezekiel chapter 40, verse 23, we have the gate to the inner court and there are four entrances, right? There's the north, the east, west, and south. Here's kind of an extended quote. I want to read this to you because I want you to get a sense of here's how the early church read the Old Testament. They always read it in light of the new. And so even though here's Ezekiel having a vision about the newly constructed temple, here's a guy named Gregory the Great.

In Gregory the Great, he gave a series of homilies or sermons on Ezekiel. And it's incredible because here's what he said about those gates to the inner court, the ones to the north, the south, the east and the west. Here's what he said. He gates to the inner court, the ones to the north, the south, the east, and the west. Here's what he said. He said, we must observe that in the spiritual building, one entrance lies open to the east, another to the north, and another to the south. Just as the cold of the north denotes sinners, so the southern way stands for the fervent in spirit who, kindled by the heat of the Holy Spirit, grow up in virtues as in the

noonday light. Then let the gate lie open to the east, so that those who, after the heat of the Holy Spirit grow up in virtues as in the noonday light. Then let the gate lie open to the east, so that those who, after the beginning of heat and light, have relapsed in the coldness and darkness of their sins, may through the work of penitence return to pardon and recognize what is the true rejoicing on inward recompense. Let the gate lie open to the south, so that those who burn in virtues with holy desires may daily penetrate the mysteries of inward joy with spiritual understanding. And I just think, wow, I did not catch that.

I did not think of that when I was reading about the gates lying open to the east, the north, and the south. I just thought, oh yeah, ultimately four directions, but three directions here. And yet here's Gregory the Great saying, no, from the north, you come from the place of coldness. From the south is place of desire. From the east is place of where the sun rises. And I just think that's remarkable. But what you have is we have these Christians who will always read the Old Testament in light of the new. So in the next few days, as we go through Ezekiel 40 to 48,

one of the things we're going to realize is that there's always a spiritual interpretation of what might seem like an obscure vision that Ezekiel had about the building of a new temple. Anyways, it might not make a lot of sense, but always in light of Jesus, you know, it ultimately makes sense. Gosh, here we are, man, day 233. We continue to journey as a community, asking the Lord to not only bring us closer to him, but also in some spiritual and some real way, bring us closer to each other. Every time we pray for each other, we are more and more united. Every time we press play and listen, we are more and more united. So thank you. Thank you for pressing play. Thank you so much for praying.

Please pray for me. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.