Week of 10/25/20 - Pages 289 - 310

 The book of Jeremiah is like a manual or guide in our relationship with God.  We may have never known him in the way Jeremiah brings Him to life. He brings God down to earth and teaches us that He is ever so present with us in all parts of our lives.  He lives with us, in us.  He is always in our joys and our sorrows...                          

Interestingly at the end of chapter 51 it says, “The words of Jeremiah end here”.   And yet there is still one more chapter. Chapter 52 is like an appendix providing more detail about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity.  It underlines the fact that all of these things occurred as Jeremiah had predicted.

A fascinating and seemingly insignificant note about the fate of the exiled King Jehoiachin is found in Jeremiah 52:31-34.  We’re told that in the 37th year of his exile (26 years after the fall of the city), the current Babylonian king (Evil-Merodach) released him from prison, “spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon”.  And for the rest of his life, King Jehoiachin is given a regular allowance and allowed to dine “regularly at the king’s table.”

So why was this historical footnote included?  My sense is that the turn of events in Babylon is included to give a glimmer of hope for the future of the nation of Israel.  Like Jehoiachin, the nation had done evil in the eyes of the Lord and suffered as a result.  However, because of His unfailing love, God was not finished with his people.  As it was with Jehoiachin, so it would be with Israel. And the book of Jeremiah which is filled with so much sadness and suffering, ends on a note of grace and hope.  God is merciful to His miserable people.  God’s promises allow hope to have the final word in the story of His people.

Week of 10/18/20 - Pages 268 - 289

Life as a prophet of God is not easy, as evidenced by Jeremiah’s life.  He endured imprisonment, was accused of treason and beaten, and was thrown in a muddy cistern to die.  And, maybe even more difficult to endure, he delivered a message from God that was continually rejected by the people.

This week’s section starts out, “While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard …” Although limited in his ability to move about freely and talk with people, God allowed him to see what no one else could – the future. He tried to warn the nation, but one king (Zedekiah) ignored his counsel, another king (Jehoiakim) burned his letter, and the common people responded no better.

 Disaster did finally come to the nation.  Jeremiah and a small remnant remained in the land.  When a neighboring nation killed Babylon’s appointed ruler of the remnant, they feared for their lives.  The remnant asked Jeremiah to find out from God what he advised, and they promised to obey God, no matter what he said.  However, when Jeremiah delivered God’s message to the people, they refused to believe and follow.

 Unfortunately, I can relate to that remnant.

 What is it that keeps me from listening to God and taking him at his word?  Often, it is one or more of the following misconceptions:

·       Pride:  “I don’t need God”

·       Shame:  “God can never love me or forgive me”

·       Unbelief:  “God can’t help”

·       Distortion of God’s character:  “God won’t help, or doesn’t care”

·       Distraction:  “Other things are more important”

·       Inconvenience:  “God might want me to do something I don’t want to”

The more we get to know God, the more we understand that we can trust him.  The book of Jeremiah reveals God’s character and helps us to know his heart.  I found the following passages helpful.

·       9:24-25 “But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things.  I, the Lord, have spoken.”

·       31:3  “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.  With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”

·       32:27  “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world.  Is anything too hard for me?”

·       29:11-14  “ ’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.  ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.  I will be found by you,’ says the Lord.”

·       31:33-34  “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord.  “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’  For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord.  “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

May you delight in the Lord as you grow in knowing him.  As in 33:11, we can join those who sing,

“Give thanks to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, for the Lord is good.  His faithful love endures forever!”

Week of 10/11/20 - Pages 246 - 268

In Jeremiah 25 something that made me pause was the fact that there were so many warnings. “I have spoken to you but you have not listened,” “the Lord has sent you all His servants, the prophets, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,” “they said repent…yet you have not listened to me.” Therefore, as a result, judgement was coming.   God had warned the people of Judah repeatedly.   When it comes to listening, there are two choices to make. You can be an active or passive listener. When you are in a conversation it becomes quite clear whether someone is actually listening to you. Are they making follow up comments and asking questions or are they simply nodding and in agreement saying “for sure” when you bring up riding an elephant into church that morning.   In my own life I have had to confess when I am passively listening and as a result choosing to ignore.  I am thankful that the Lord is always speaking and always faithful.  This has made me reflect on how I can choose to be an active listener so that I am not ignoring when God speaks. 

Week of 9/27/20 - Pages 201 - 222

Reading Jeremiah is hard. It is full of descriptive, emotional, spiteful and ungodly behavior, from the very people He chose to be the example of a people in right relationship with God.   Why are you so upset God?  God’s perspective can be found Exodus 20: 1-6.  The beginning description of the ten commandments is a cornerstone for understanding God’s words in Jeremiah. It helps me get a glimpse of God’s rage for the behavior, His unmet longings, and also His opening hand for mercy.  If you will turn away from your sin, Israel and Judah, I will accept you and be your God.

Jeremiahs call is intimate, “I knew you before I formed  you in your mother’s womb… “. Jeremiah’s role had an auspicious start. Is that so much like you and me when it comes to God giving us an assignment!

6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” 7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” 9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth! 10 Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.”

I can’t do this I’m too young seems like a reasonable response. Jeremiah has a difficult assignment from a human perspective.  To know that your life was going to be about confronting nations, it’s leadership, tearing some nations down and building others up!  Those are ’Goliath’ size activities that would make me shudder as a young person.  Jeremiah has no track record or knowledge of these things. It must have been overwhelming. 

God responds.  He will step in and be that voice and protector when things get rough for Jeremiah.  God discloses to Jeremiah that his presence, words, strength and power would be behind Jeremiah in all that he did.  A foreshadowing of Jesus perhaps?   Jeremiah is called to not be afraid while in the upcoming confrontations. Additional information of Jeremiah’s response or mindset is not provided to us about his calling.  We know that he did engage in his role from history.

Early in the book of Jeremiah, God builds His case for justifying his action.  It is interesting to me how He is remembering the ‘good ole days’ of an Israel that was in fellowship with the Living God.

“I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.3 In those days Israel was holy to the Lord,the first of his children.

Isn’t it true about anything that is ‘new’, in the beginning?  

The text change in tone is swift as God rants about all the things “ the families of Israel” did and did not do to be in a worshipful relationship with God. The text is full of woe, tragedy and disappointment. Powerful and painful metaphors are applied to Israel as an ‘unfaithful wife’, adultery, prostituting herself, and divorce are all used to bring these points home.  Judah did not learn from the Northern Kingdom’s mistakes.  Judah without remorse follows Israel ways and breaks all that God asks for in a relationship with Himself.   

God continues with His case for why the powerful armies of the North are being called on to destroy Judah.  Israel is already occupied and feeling all the pains, suffering, and struggles of being held captive by a fierce and cruel occupier. Chapters 4-8 tell the story of God’s appeal through Jeremiah to Judah to turn away from their dishonoring lifestyle.  Jeremiah gives warnings of God’s impending judgement and makes conditional appeals to extend mercy. Jeremiah deflects every argument of Judah including a provocative one of the presence of the Ark in the temple of Jerusalem. Not a good enough reason.  God is left to follow his promise to allow the destruction of the Jerusalem and the end of Judah.  Jeremiah weeps for a sinful Judah. I think the heart of God weeps for all that are wayward.

In Jeremiah two Kingdoms refuse to return to a pure, focused worship of God alone as declared in the ten commandments.   God is possessive of the worship and service that belong to Him. It is a sin, as God points out in this commandment,  to worship or serve anything other than God. By God’s design he desires ALL OF OUR worship and service to Him alone.   In this sense our God is a jealous God.