The Precious From The Vile

Jer. 15:19

Therefore thus says the Lord:

“If you return,
 Then I will bring you back;

You shall stand before Me;

If you take out the precious from the vile,

You shall be as My mouth.


Let them return to you,

But you must not return to them.

On March 3rd, I wrote about God's promises to Jeremiah from this passage. The Lord promised Jeremiah 7 things if he would return, and learn how to take precious things out of the vile. I have been meditating on this thought again today. How can we discover the precious things in our lives? We are so quickly drawn to our imperfections and sins. It is hard to imagine that the Lord can show us precious treasures that can spring up out of these wretched and vile places. 

This is a great secret for God's people. So many don't know how to apply God's redemption to the dark places of their hearts...they get overwhelmed by their own brokenness and are frozen in shame, insecurity, fear and doubt.

Diamonds are not formed from coal, they come from one single element - carbon. The formation of diamonds requires great heat (from molten magna) and intense pressure many miles inside the earth. In this same manner, the Lord is able to form beauty out of our ashes, joy instead of mourning, and precious out of our vile. 

Ask the Lord to show you today how to find precious things among the vile. Our destiny will ultimately be determined by our ability to accomplish this task. Look for keys in every circumstance.

The Lord doesn't waste anything in our lives. Even when we wreck havoc in our hearts through sin, squandered opportunities, laziness, pride, fear, foolishness, or any manner of trouble of our own doing or at the hand of others, it is essential to know the supremacy of redemption. When anything is surrendered to the Lord in genuine repentance, He is able to completely restore, heal and release us from every layer of bondage that undoubtedly accompanies such devastation. Not only that, He even teaches us to search for precious treasures of grace that can be mined out of the brokenness and darkness that can so often overwhelm us all. What the devil designed for our utter destruction can be turned into precious resources of grace through the power of Christ's redeeming blood. Through our surrender, He can cause nobility to rise out of utter devastation.

Here are some of the things that the Lord describes as precious in His Word. Each of these can be unearthed as we turn our hearts from darkness to His light...from the vile to the beautiful:

Precious stones – 1Chron. 20:2; 29:8

The Lord replaces poverty with wealth in His people. This is not only financial wealth, but undiscovered treasures and talents within your life that will shine like precious jewels in the place of paucity. 

Precious ointments – 2Ki. 20:13

When we turn our hearts from the vile things inside, we are able to be instruments of healing in others. In Ps. 133:1-2 this ointment is a picture of the unity that comes as we rid our hearts of every vile attitude.

Precious lovingkindness – Ps. 36:7

The Lord is full of lovingkindness and mercy. When we have been broken over our own sin and found God's redeeming grace, we are able to become ministers of this precious lovingkindness to others. The Church has not been very gracious at times. I think this is a reflection of our own lack of true repentance and experience of God's precious lovingkindness.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints – Ps. 116:15

Every life is precious to God - even the unborn. Whether we experience physical death or layers of dying to the self-life, the Lord receives honor, and counts that life as precious. The world has yet to see and experience the immense potential of a truly humble and "dead" Church.

Precious thoughts – Ps. 139:17

The thoughts of God are precious. When we turn from our own vile thoughts, we are able to give our minds and imaginations to His thoughts. So much of what we do and who we are originates in our thoughts. Seeds of God's exquisite wisdom, and secrets of His character are just waiting to be planted in the surrendered mind and brought to fruitfulness in the yielded heart.

Precious wisdom/knowledge – Prov. 3:15; 20:15; 24:4

God's wisdom is precious - our sin is foolish and vile. We have this glorious invitation to root out the vile things in our hearts and replace them with God's supernatural wisdom and knowledge.

Precious diligence – Prov. 12:27

Sin can be such a waste of time, energy and talent. As we take out the vile things, we will find more time and space for this precious jewel of diligence. Once we diligently serve the Lord, the rewards will be complete.

Precious cornerstone – Is. 28:16; 1Pet. 2:4, 6, 7

Take out the vile things from your heart, and rebuild your life from the inside with Jesus as the foundation and solid cornerstone. What sublime edifice can be constructed in the place of the vile? Dream big with God and make a sanctuary for His presence where there once was ruin.

Precious faith – 1Pet. 1:1; 2Pet. 1:1

True faith can only rise as we remove the vile things and make way for the Lord.

Precious blood – 1Pet. 1:19

Of all the precious things in the Word, this has to be the most precious! Jesus' precious blood has made the way for me to have complete victory over every vile thing. There is no sin or difficulty too great for the redeeming power of the blood of Christ.

Precious gentle and quiet spirit – 1Pet. 3:4

In this passage, Peter is calling us to inner beauty, peace and quietness. These things are precious to the Lord, as they are an expression of the peace that comes to every heart that is surrendered to the Lord and free from the vile.

Precious promises – 2Pet. 1:2-4

This verse sums it all up - the Lord has made a way for us to partake of every layer of His Godly character and virtue. His precious promises have made it possible for us to enter into His glory. As we remove the vile and embrace the precious, we make way for God's divine nature to become our clothing:

2Pet. 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

More HERE

Taste & See That He Is Good

Psalm 34:8

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.

Blessed are you who run to him. (Message) 

Taste Helps Us To See & Know God

This verse doesn't say, "See and then you will taste that He is good." It calls us to taste, and then our eyes will be opened to know His goodness. The Serpent told Eve that if she would eat of the tree, her eyes would be opened to know – eating God’s fruit opens our eyes to good and evil:

Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Now He invites us to taste the fruit of His presence so that we have our eyes opened to see and know His goodness. He wants us to taste his goodness. This is one of the first things we see and know about God  - He is Good.

We can only tell so much by looking, touching, hearing, or smelling (coffee smells ok, but tastes horrible) The verse taste and see that He is good, tells us that He is good, but we have to taste and see for ourselves. There is a blessing that comes from seeking Him in such a way that we can taste Him and see/know Him more intimately.

Taste is the most intimate of senses – the final knowing – when we taste something, it is taken and known on the inside. This focus on “tasting” God is a call to know Him more intimately. If we don't know that He is good, we will not press into Him for more.

Many come to God and Church to look – but in order to truly know Him, you have to taste – you have to come close to God.

Food makes itself known as we taste it. We know chocolate by its taste because it makes itself known as we eat it. God makes Himself known in the same way. 

Master chefs use foods to compliment one another. They are able to present layers of flavor to the palate. They create art with the presentation of meals. Knowing this, we can understand that the greatest meals are prepared and laid before us by the Lord every day. The sight, smell, texture and flavor of the Lord’s food is without equal. There are layers of knowing Him that can delight and overwhelm us! Deeper relationship with Him has already been provided for us.

Give us this day our daily bread

God's Goodness:

The Lord showed Himself to Moses as He hid him in the rock. The part of Himself that He chose to show was His goodness:

Ex. 33:19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

Ex. 34:6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth   (God sang of His goodness)

Consider these verses on God's goodness and "eat" them this week. We "eat" these verses by meditating on them and taking them into our lives in the same way that ordinary food becomes a part of us. Allow God's goodness to permeate every part of your day, and may this food give you strength just as ordinary food nourishes, heals and sustains our lives:

Gen. 1:31      Everything He created was good

1Chr. 16:34   Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (Ezra 3:11; Ps. 106:1; 107:1; 118:29; 136:1)

Ps. 23:6         He follows us all the days of our life with goodness and mercy

Ps. 27:13       He encourages our heart through His goodness

Ps. 31:19       His goodness is great towards those who fear Him

Ps. 33:5         He fills the earth with His goodness

Ps. 54:6         His name is good

Ps. 65:11       He crowns the year with His goodness

Ps. 69:16       His lovingkindness is good

Ps. 107:8,15  He guides us by His goodness

Ps. 107:9       He fills the hungry soul with goodness

Ps. 145:7       He fills our praise with the remembrance of His goodness

Jer. 31:14      He satisfies us with His goodness

Rom. 2:4       His leads us to repentance through His goodness

Rom. 8:28     He causes all things to work together for good

Rom. 15:14   He makes us full of goodness

He has prepared a banquet of His goodness!