Trample Under Foot

Jeremiah 12:6-17
 - 6 -   Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.
 - 7 -   "I have abandoned My people, My special possession. I have surrendered My dearest ones to their enemies.
 - 8 -   My chosen people have roared at Me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt.
 - 9 -   My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!
 - 10 -   "Many rulers have ravaged My vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
 - 11 -   They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.
 - 12 -   On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the LORD devours people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape!
 - 13 -   My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the LORD."
 - 14 -   Now this is what the LORD says: "I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave My people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them.
 - 15 -   But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession.
 - 16 -   And if these nations truly learn the ways of My people, and if they learn to swear by My name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives' (just as they taught My people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among My people.
 - 17 -   But any nation who refuses to obey Me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

Hebrews 10:29-39

 - 29 -   Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to us.

 - 30 -   For we know the One who said, "I will take revenge. I will pay them back." He also said, "The LORD will judge His own people."

 - 31 -   It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 - 32 -   Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.

 - 33 -   Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.

 - 34 -   You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.

 - 35 -   So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!

 - 36 -   Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that He has promised.

 - 37 -   "For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.

 - 38 -   And My righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away."

 - 39 -   But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.