Jeremiah 17:14-18
“ GOD, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again. You are my praise! Listen to how they talk about me: ‘So where’s this ‘Word of GOD’? We’d like to see something happen!’ But it wasn’t my idea to call for Doomsday. I never wanted trouble. You know what I’ve said. It’s all out in the open before you. Don’t add to my troubles. Give me some relief! Let those who harass me be harassed, not me. Let them be disgraced, not me. Bring down upon them the day of doom. Lower the boom. Boom!”
“O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone! People scoff at me and say, ‘What is this ‘message from the LORD’ you talk about? Why don’t your predictions come true?’ LORD, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your people. I have not urged you to send disaster. You have heard everything I’ve said. LORD, don’t terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster. Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me, but don’t let me experience shame and dismay. Bring a day of terror on them. Yes, bring double destruction upon them!”
I need to be put back together too. But my suffering is because of disease, not nay sayers. I am overwhelmed by pain. I am almost an invalid. I take 11 different medications each day. Fatigue is paralyzing. I need to take 2.5 mg. of Oxycodone to leave the house. Our homeless phase living in our RV has been enjoyable but is wearing thin and I long for a real house again. But I wonder how I can ever participate in moving and run a home again. Like Jeremiah I cry, “Give me some relief.”
Lord, you know all things. I trust your timing, your plan. I cannot rely on myself for anything. Please help me.
Jeremiah 17:9-10
“‘The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, GOD, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.’”
“‘The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.’”
My heart is sore today. I hurt from relations that have gone awry and people who have let me down. But I choose to focus instead on my Lord’s ability to sort and order that which has fallen into pain and confusion. He is the only one who can heal my aching heart.
Lord, you know what is broken. Please get to the root of it and fix me. May I only look to you for approval and purpose. Protect me from Satan’s barbs of worthlessness and failure and heal my depression. Please provide opportunities to repair relationships. Pave the way by working in the hearts of others involved. Guide me for your glory.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
“But blessed is the man who trusts me, GOD, the woman who sticks with GOD. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.”
“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”
Lord, I want to be a tree like this. May I be deeply rooted in you. Let me always drink deeply from your aquifers so my trunk grows wide and my greenery profuse. May I be able to shelter and shade others regardless of our environment. Signs and portents point to hard times. Please make us ready for them.
Jeremiah 17:3-4
“‘I’ll use your mountains as roadside stands for giving away everything you have. All your ‘things’ will serve as reparations for your sins all over the country. You’ll lose your gift of land, The inheritance I gave you. I’ll make you slaves of your enemies in a far-off and strange land. My anger is hot and blazing and fierce, and no one will put it out.’”
“So I will hand over my holy mountain—along with all your wealth and treasures and your pagan shrines—as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land. The wonderful possession I have reserved for you will slip from your hands. I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.’”
It is a terrible thing for sinners to fall into the hands of an angry God. Americans have lost this fear. We’ve never been touched by the trauma of war on our doorstep. Our ease of living has softened us. These verses are a warning. God knows all and will not tolerate our self-interest and its resulting evils indefinitely.
Lord, how can I help my country? May I and other brothers and sisters in Christ be a healing, preserving force in our land. Show my how.
Jeremiah 16:19-21
“GOD, my strength, my stronghold, my safe retreat when trouble descends: The godless nations will come from earth’s four corners, saying, ‘Our ancestors lived on lies, useless illusions, all smoke.’ Can mortals manufacture gods? Their factories turn out no-gods! ‘Watch closely now. I’m going to teach these wrongheaded people. Starting right now, I’m going to teach them Who I am and what I do, teach them the meaning of my name, GOD—‘I AM.’’”
“LORD, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and say, ‘Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols. Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!’ The LORD says, ‘Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the LORD.”
God is Lord of the whole earth and all its peoples. Here we see them longing to leave behind their traditional idolatry and God promising to bring them into knowledge of himself. His love has poured out on them through creation and now he will use the Hebrews to teach unbelievers who he is. All of us were created for fellowship with God and can never rest until we rest in him. And out of that rest we flourish into our true, ultimate self. All things, including us, are complete only in him.
Lord Jesus, I am the descendant of these heathen peoples who heard your creation call, left their idols and found you. Thank you for calling us to yourself. How I long to run and leap into your lap and feel all worldly stress melt away. Give me grace to wait, content in the present with your Holy Spirit in my heart.
Jeremiah 16:14-15
“On the other hand, don’t miss this: The time is coming when no one will say any longer, ‘As sure as GOD lives, the God who delivered Israel from Egypt.’ What they’ll say is, ‘As sure as GOD lives, the God who brought Israel back from the land of the north, brought them back from all the places where he’d scattered them.’ That’s right, I’m going to bring them back to the land I first gave to their ancestors.”
“But the time is coming,’ says the LORD, ‘when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.”
Our holy God cannot tolerate sin and paints a picture of terrible judgement in preceding verses. But God is also love, and he will not leave his people in exile. He promises to bring them home again. They may have of let go of God, but he will not let go of them.
Lord, somehow you are both holiness and love at once. I am amazed you hold both in perfect tension within yourself. I can trust you to put the world right and do it with love, although I cannot imagine how. You are truly an amazing Lord, fully complete, fully trustworthy, fully everything good. Thank you for finding me, calling me and keeping me safe in the circle of your arms.
Jeremiah 15:19-21
“This is how GOD answered me: ‘Take back those words, and I’ll take you back. Then you’ll stand tall before me. Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining. Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me. Let your words change them. Don’t change your words to suit them. I’ll turn you into a steel wall, a thick steel wall, impregnable. They’ll attack you but won’t put a dent in you because I’m at your side, defending and delivering.’ GOD’s Decree. ‘I’ll deliver you from the grip of the wicked. I’ll get you out of the clutch of the ruthless.’”
“This is how the LORD responds: ‘If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you! They will fight against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and rescue you. I, the LORD, have spoken! Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.’”
Here is the proof it is OK to take our resentment and bitterness to God. He will take us back if we repent our angry words. He promises to forget Jeremiah’s failing, immediately putting him back to work, filling him with the spirit and courage to do so. When Jeremiah repents, God forgets Jeremiah’s sin, and focuses on his redemption, reinstatement, and empowerment. There is work to do!
Lord, my forgiveness cost you greatly. Yet you do not brow beat me with it. Your desire to reach the world is far greater than the sin I make a mountain of. I am weak but you make me able to do your work. Crazy and amazing! Truly you are good and worthy of all glory and honor.
Jeremiah 15:15-18
“You know where I am, GOD! Remember what I’m doing here! Take my side against my detractors. Don’t stand back while they ruin me. Just look at the abuse I’m taking! When your words showed up, I ate them— swallowed them whole. What a feast! What delight I took in being yours, O GOD, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies! I never joined the party crowd in their laughter and their fun. Led by you, I went off by myself. You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething. But why, why this chronic pain, this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight? You’re nothing, GOD, but a mirage, a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!”
“Then I said, “LORD, you know what’s happening to me. Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors! Please give me time; don’t let me die young. It’s for your sake that I am suffering. When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies. I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I was filled with indignation at their sins. Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry.”
It is so good to see this humanity in one of God’s great prophets. Jeremiah has been pressed to the limit and is having a little breakdown in faith. How often we find ourselves in the same circumstance! The Bible is not full of perfect, super human people. They are just like us and I’m grateful for this honesty in God’s Word.
Lord, thank you for this comfort and lesson. It is OK to feel and think these thoughts if I take them to you. May I always do just that, never turning inward upon them, stewing with anger and resentment. Keep me close, always following you in the stress of life.
Jeremiah 15:10
“Unlucky mother—that you had me as a son, given the unhappy job of indicting the whole country! I’ve never hurt or harmed a soul, yet everyone is out to get me. But, GOD knows, I’ve done everything I could to help them, prayed for them and against their enemies. I’ve always been on their side, trying to stave off disaster. God knows how I’ve tried!”
“Then I said, “What sorrow is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose nor a borrower who refuses to pay - yet they all curse me.””
Men who are tired of Jeremiah’s messages seek to end his life and Jeremiah cries out. God saw what no one else did, Jeremiah’s heart and promised protection in the following verses. (I am grateful for Peterson’s clarification of this Hebrew idiom about lending and borrowing.) Do not look to people around us for validation. They can’t see inside. But God knows our efforts and intentions and he is the only one that matters.
Lord, thank you for healing me of the need for approval. I still return to that bondage now and then and you are faithful to pull me back. May I ever look to you for validation and direction. You alone are my only hope and I trust you.
Jeremiah 14:13-14
“I said, ‘But Master, GOD! Their preachers have been telling them that everything is going to be all right—no war and no famine—that there’s nothing to worry about.’ Then GOD said, ‘These preachers are liars, and they use my name to cover their lies. I never sent them, I never commanded them, and I don’t talk with them. The sermons they’ve been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.”
“The I said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, their prophets are telling them, ‘All is well – No war of famine will come. The Lord will surely send you peace.’’ Then the Lord said, ‘These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts.”
The false prophets of our time tell us the same story using modern gods. Free sex, hedonism and the pursuit of self-actualization are all we need to be happy. These false gods come straight from Satan and guarantee destruction, yet we repeatedly turn to them, and their various iterations, in our search for meaning. Our rebellion has scarred our eyes, and we are blind. We stagger about, seeking a solid point of reference. The thing we seek turns out to be a person, within reach all along, waiting and longing for us to turn towards him.
Oh Lord, we humans are so foolish. Me too! Open my eyes to the lies I tell myself. May you ever be my reference point. You are the beginning and end of all things, all powerful, all knowing and all good. Show me how to be your goodness to the world.
Jeremiah 14:7
“We know we’re guilty. We’ve lived bad lives— but do something, GOD. Do it for your sake!”
“The people say. ‘Our wickedness has caught up with us, LORD, but help us for the sake of your own reputation. We have turned away from you and sinned against you again and again.’”
In the end, we’re all guilty of something and our only hope is in our good, loving and unchanging God who can never be other than he is. He is rich in mercy and that is exactly what we need.
Lord, forgive me and my countrymen our wickedness and the consequences we can no longer ignore. We have done badly and hurt the innocent in the process. May your goodness flow through us and wash it all away. Have mercy Lord, not because we deserve it but because of who you are. Have mercy.
Jeremiah 12:7-8
“I will abandon the House of Israel, walk away from my beloved people. I will turn over those I most love to those who are her enemies. She’s been, this one I held dear, like a snarling lion in the jungle, Growling and baring her teeth at me— and I can’t take it anymore.”
“I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies. My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt.”
God has feelings too. Unrequited love seems his specialty as Israel, Judah and the world repeatedly reject him. But even God has his limits. He knows when people are beyond the hope of redemption. Like overripe fruit, the only place for them is the compost heap.
Lord, may I never become overripe, beginning to decay. Keep me plugged into your life and plans. Grant me grace to do my job well, firmly attached to you, my vine and fully in step with your purpose.