Temporary Heat….

When you ignore God’s warnings, and not take heed, the consequences built up, and are much worse than the start. King Jehoiakim paid the price for refusing to take heed when the scroll was read to Him. Instead of listening and repenting, as he heard each section read, he meticulously took his knife and cut off each section and burned it in the fire that he was warming himself with. The only purpose God’s word served him, was temporary heat. Unfortunately, the “real heat” from God’s word, eventually came and ran him “out of the kitchen” to a dismal and degrading death. When we take God or His Word for granted, we either miss out on great and wonderful gifts He has for us, or we suffer a greater fate because of it. We can’t cut out parts of the truth we don’t like. It doesn’t work that way. Take heed, lest ye fall.

21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king as all his officials stood by. 22 It was late autumn, and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire to keep warm. 23 Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up. 24 Neither the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard. 25 Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he wouldn’t listen.26 Then the king commanded his son Jerahmeel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord had hidden them. Jeremiah Rewrites the Scroll 27 After the king had burned the scroll on which Baruch had written Jeremiah’s words, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message. He said, 28 “Get another scroll, and write everything again just as you did on the scroll King Jehoiakim burned. 29 Then say to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this land and empty it of people and animals. 30 Now this is what the Lord says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no heirs to sit on the throne of David. His dead body will be thrown out to lie unburied–exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will punish him and his family and his attendants for their sins. I will pour out on them and on all the people of Jerusalem and Judah all the disasters I promised, for they would not listen to My warnings.’ ”32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to his secretary, Baruch. He wrote everything that had been on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. Only this time he added much more! Jeremiah 36:21-32