Jeremiah 25:3-5
“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah right up to the present day—twenty-three years it’s been!—GOD’s Word has come to me, and from early each morning to late every night I’ve passed it on to you. And you haven’t listened to a word of it! Not only that but GOD also sent a steady stream of prophets to you who were just as persistent as me, and you never listened. They told you, ‘Turn back—right now, each one of you!—from your evil way of life and bad behavior, and live in the land GOD gave you and your ancestors, the land he intended to give you forever.”
“For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now—the LORD has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened. Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention. Each time the message was this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors forever.’”
It is easy to forget the momentous changes we read about in history occurred not convulsively, but along with everyday life. Jeremiah counts his years of faithful prophesy and confirms there were others preaching God’s warning words at the same time. Judah had notice and time to change but any resolution to do so broke as waves upon the shore of ordinary life and its routines. God calls us to maintain our alertness amidst the everyday, always watching to see how he moves the world according to his ultimate purpose. He gives us scripture for a map so we may see the lay of the land. His warnings are there for those who watch and listen.
Lord, help me to faithfully watch and listen to you. This watching is something I can do, though an invalid. Give me wisdom in the practice of it. Give me gentleness and grace in transmitting your words, all and only for you.
Jeremiah 23: 35-38
“’Instead of claiming to know what GOD says, ask questions of one another, such as ‘How do we understand GOD in this?’ But don’t go around pretending to know it all, saying ‘God told me this… God told me that… ’ I don’t want to hear it anymore. Only the person I authorize speaks for me. Otherwise, my Message gets twisted, the Message of the living GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. - ’You can ask the prophets, ‘How did GOD answer you? What did he tell you?’ But don’t pretend that you know all the answers yourselves and talk like you know it all. I’m telling you: Quit the ‘God told me this… God told me that… ’ kind of talk.”
“You should keep asking each other, ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What is the LORD saying?’ But stop using this phrase, ‘prophecy from the LORD.’ For people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. ‘This is what you should say to the prophets: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What is the LORD saying?’ But suppose they respond, ‘This is a prophecy from the LORD!’ Then you should say, ‘This is what the LORD says: Because you have used this phrase, ‘prophecy from the LORD,’ even though I warned you not to use it,”
Only that directed and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit can accurately transmit God’s words. These verses are a powerful waring. Like these ancient preachers, we so easily deceive ourselves that God is speaking in and through us. But really, it is our self that is up to mischief. Claiming to speak for God carries awesome responsibility to get it right. Men ever look for leaders to fill the God space within. Counterfeits are everywhere. True leaders are God chosen, and their knees bear the scars of hours spent in prayer before the Author of Creation.
Lord, we have a dearth of good leaders now. Please give us men and women who lead with humility and strength to guide us through the mess we have made. Give them your wisdom. Empower them by your Spirit, whether they know you or not. Have mercy on us and call us back to yourself so that righteousness and justice may overflow.
Jeremiah 23:9&29
“My head is reeling, my limbs are limp, I’m staggering like a drunk, seeing double from too much wine— And all because of GOD, because of his holy words.
Nothing else is like GOD’s Decree. ‘Isn’t my Message like fire?’ GOD’s Decree. ‘Isn’t it like a sledgehammer busting a rock?’”
“My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and my bones tremble. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone overcome by wine, because of the holy words the Lord has spoken against them.
‘Does not my word burn like fire?’ says the Lord. ‘Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?’”
Jeremiah suffered in receiving and preaching God’s words. They were quick, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword… (Hebrews 4:12) Jeremiah sets a good example. Speaking truth is always costly in this world of sin. May we do likewise.
Lord, make me faithful to speak truth and to do it with a lot of love.
Jeremiah 23:5-6
“‘Time’s coming’—GOD’s Decree— ‘when I’ll establish a truly righteous David-Branch, A ruler who knows how to rule justly. He’ll make sure of justice and keep people united. In his time Judah will be secure again and Israel will live in safety. This is the name they’ll give him: ‘GOD-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.’”
“‘For the time is coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this will be his name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.”
Just when I think I can’t take any more prophesy of destruction on my doorstep God gives relief. He will judge but will also bless. Judgement always resolves in blessing. I am thankful God has a good heart. He cannot leave us mired in sin but reaches down to heal and redeem. I love The Message’s translation of God’s name, “GOD-Who-Puts-Everything-Right. That is what I long for, everything and everyone fully realized, fully functioning, and full of joy. Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Lord, thank you for this relief, this encouragement that sin will not always rule us. Change my heart, make me a healer on your behalf. Continue to work this present installment of salvation in your children. I long for your return so we may be fully put right. Come quickly!
Jeremiah 22:1-3
“GOD’s orders: ‘Go to the royal palace and deliver this Message. Say, ‘Listen to what GOD says, O King of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you and your officials and all the people who go in and out of these palace gates. This is GOD’s Message: Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don’t take advantage of the homeless, the orphans, the widows. Stop the murdering!’”
“This is what the Lord said to me: ‘Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too. This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!’”
God’s reason for punishing and destroying Jerusalem is not immorality but justice. Immorality is but the prelude to murder. After murdering ourselves and loved ones by immoral living we turn to taking human life, covering it up with excuses. But the poor have a mighty champion. For centuries the church, on God’s behalf, stood in the gap for them. Now it is government, and unfortunately the connection of people helping people is lost. Let the church take notice. God doesn’t want programs. He wants justice. Programs may or may not get us there.
Lord, our church is doing some exciting things for the poor. I long to be apart of them. Instead, you have me here, isolated, and handicapped. Show me how I can still be a part of this work or give me peace that I cannot. Remind me to pray more for justice for the poor, especially in the undeveloped world. Let my salvation be an engine for this work, not a focus for self-indulgence.
Jeremiah 21:8-10
“And then tell the people at large, ‘GOD’s Message to you is this: Listen carefully. I’m giving you a choice: life or death. Whoever stays in this city will die—either in battle or by starvation or disease. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who have surrounded the city will live. You’ll lose everything—but not your life. I’m determined to see this city destroyed. I’m that angry with this place! GOD’s Decree. I’m going to give it to the king of Babylon, and he’s going to burn it to the ground.’”
“Tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death! Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life! For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.’”
In opening verses to Chapter 21 King Zedekiah asks God to pray for Israel against the Babylonians. Jeremiah responds with God’s determination to do the opposite. Then he gives this way out to the common people, stay and die, surrender and live; justice tempered with mercy. God provides a way out of our hard places too. Often, his promise does not offer details. It is another opportunity to step out in faith and trust him, showing commitment by our own actions.
Lord, looking back on these kind of situations in my past, I was slow to see the way out, often only with hindsight. Next time, because your great mercy, when you offer a way out help me to see it better and choose it more quickly. The haze of emotions and fear is so blinding. Next time, please let me see you at work more clearly and rejoice with faith in your acting presence.
Jeremiah 20:14-18
“Curse the day I was born! The day my mother bore me— a curse on it, I say! And curse the man who delivered the news to my father: ‘You’ve got a new baby—a boy baby!’ (How happy it made him.) Let that birth notice be blacked out, deleted from the records, And the man who brought it haunted to his death with the bad news he brought. He should have killed me before I was born, with that womb as my tomb, My mother pregnant for the rest of her life with a baby dead in her womb. Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb? Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears, and what’s coming is more of the same.”
“Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth. I curse the messenger who told my father, ‘Good news—you have a son!’ Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that the LORD overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts, because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.”
In Verse 13 Jeremiah lifts praise to God. Then suddenly he changes to this lament where it is clear he suffers from depression. It seems he is like Peter who took his eyes off of Jesus on the Lake of Galilee and began to sink. Peter’s momentary distraction was the storm. Jeremiah’s is the pain for carrying God’s word to a rebellious people. His entire existence is wrapped up in it and there is no escape. No wonder he is depressed. We should not be surprised when stress uses up our neurotransmitters and we fall into depression. God’s call to us may be a simple, “Follow me,” but it is far from easy. When we turn to God for help, find him standing close, and he heals by enfolding us in his wings, our pain is eclipsed by his glory, and it is utterly worth it.
Lord, I’ve been fighting this monster again lately. Please help me. Restore my body, comfort my soul. Make me strong to face the next bout and walk through to the other side where your glory is abundant, and tears and sorrow fade away.
Jeremiah 20:7-9
“You pushed me into this, GOD, and I let you do it. You were too much for me. And now I’m a public joke. They all poke fun at me. Every time I open my mouth I’m shouting, ‘Murder!’ or ‘Rape!’ And all I get for my GOD-warnings are insults and contempt. But if I say, ‘Forget it! No more GOD-Messages from me!’ The words are fire in my belly, a burning in my bones. I’m worn out trying to hold it in. I can’t do it any longer!”
“O Lord, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me. When I speak, the words burst out. ‘Violence and destruction!’ I shout. So these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke. But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!”
Poor Jeremiah. He is between the rock of God and the hard hearts of his countrymen. In I Cor. 9:16 Paul says, “Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn't preach the Good News!” Paul is the more fortunate because his news is good. Jeremiah’s was catastrophic. I am convicted by both men and long to share the news God gives me. My existence is much more low profile. But, like Jeremiah, I too stand as intercessor for the people in my life, and my bones burn with the fire of God’s Word.
Lord, show me how to live out this burning in my secluded life. Make me a better intercessor. Forgive my laziness and self-preoccupation. May I ever walk and talk according to your perfect will.
Jeremiah 18:14-16
“But my people have left me to worship the Big Lie. They’ve gotten off the track, the old, well-worn trail, And now bushwhack through underbrush in a tangle of roots and vines. Their land’s going to end up a mess— a fool’s memorial to be spit on. Travelers passing through will shake their heads in disbelief. I’ll scatter my people before their enemies, like autumn leaves in a high wind.”
“But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths. Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be astonished and will shake their heads in amazement.”
Israel stepped off God’s path for them. Anyone who has tried to short cut a trail by bushwacking knows what a difficult thing it is. The land is uneven, so each step requires more energy. An area that looks like a little bramble from afar becomes a wall of dense vegetation up close. Stepping into such a thicket is dangerously disorienting. There is wondering whether to turn back or push ahead, anxiety instead of peace. But God’s way is level and clear. He himself keeps us company on the journey. Why do we step out on our own? Humans are stubborn, and thankfully God loves us anyway.
Lord, thank you for rescuing me when I strike off on my own. Forgive my hubris. I want to stay on the path with you. Please help me. Save me from myself.
Jeremiah 18:5-10
“Then GOD’s Message came to me: ‘Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?’ GOD’s Decree! ‘Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.’”
“Then the Lord gave me this message: ‘O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is I the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.”
Our mighty God, in the context of his divine purpose, does change his mind and this is one reason we pray. But there are two sides to this. He may choose to bless what was cursed and redeem what was lost. In Jesus Christ he brought all the blessing and redeeming to eternal perfection, calling all of us to be part of it. Or, he may choose to curse what was blessed. The redeeming Lord Jesus is the same one who judges. He juggles the infinite number of possible choices in the hearts of the world’s peoples to judge truly and fairly. Our prayers and behavior are the clay, and they determine the kind of pot God chooses to make of us.
Lord, I want your blessings. I hurt so in my mind and body right now and cannot welcome blessings that are a severe mercy. I feel I need the softer side of you right now. But that is the rub. I don’t know my deepest self or what I am capable of. You do and I know I can trust you, leaving all things in your generous and loving hands.
Jeremiah 18:3-4
“So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.”
“So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.”
God tells Jeremiah to go to the potter’s workshop. I took a pottery class in college. To begin, a lump of clay is softened by kneading and then placed on the wheel. The potter’s hands tighten around it as the wheel spins until it is centered. Then pot shaping takes place. The clay undergoes considerable force and realignment. God represents himself as the potter. If I am clay in his hands, I too will undergo painful and disorienting force, but it will be worthwhile. I will be made new along the axis of God’s purpose, beautiful in form and function.
Lord, make me beautiful in form and function, willing to endure whatever your shaping brings into my life. You are my trustworthy creator. I am your servant. Train and shape me as you see fit.
Jeremiah 17:24
“But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual. Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots.”
“But if you obey me, says the LORD, and do not carry on your trade at the gates or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy, then kings and officials will keep going in and out of this gate forever.”
How exactly do we keep the Sabbath holy? God says two things about this through Jeremiah. First is the exhortation to set aside our own private work. Second warns us to stay away from, “doing business as usual,” with others. Sabbath keeping means setting our time aside for something restful and set apart (holy). It has a personal and corporate aspect. Ir is about what is going on in our hearts, not keeping a list of Sabbath rules. Though many have tried, it cannot be defined. We need the Spirit’s help. Only his presence and advice can show us how to make the day especially God’s and provide the rest we need.
Lord, thank you for the freedom we have in Jesus. Show me how to appropriate this freedom in keeping your Sabbath holy. Help me navigate the minefield of rules and delight in you instead.