Jeremiah 32:33
“They’ve turned their backs on me—won’t even look me in the face!—even though I took great pains to teach them how to live.”
“My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.”
God knows how we work best, individually, and corporately, because he made us. His commands do not arise from a desire to control. They are a user’s manual meant to actualize and fulfill. Living his way ensures the best life, but it is not easy. At first it is easier to go our own way. As we sink deeper in mire it becomes apparent, we were hoodwinked. God’s way requires the hard work of relinquishment, but the results satisfy us for eternity.
Oh Lord! I cannot wait to experience that wonderous existence. Being with you and loved ones gone before, taking your beauty, seeing and understanding… Thank you for the promise of this glorious future. Meanwhile, help me to walk your way. Strengthen and guide me towards eternity.
Jeremiah 32:26
“Then GOD’s Message came again to Jeremiah: ‘Stay alert! I am GOD, the God of everything living. Is there anything I can’t do?’”
“Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?’”
Walking by faith begins with knowing God. He is accessible, the creator, eternal, our father, faithful, good, beyond our understanding, infinite, invisible, jealous, just, loving, merciful, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, patient, perfect, personable, preserving, a provider, righteous, our savior, sovereign and wise. Truly, he can do anything, and we stand upon it.
Lord, thank you for revealing yourself to us through the Law and Jesus Christ. If you hadn’t, I could never have imagined such a wonderful Lord. You are worthy of all praise and worship I can give. Amen
Jeremiah 32:24-25
“’‘Oh, look at the siege ramps already set in place to take the city. Killing and starvation and disease are on our doorstep. The Babylonians are attacking! The Word you spoke is coming to pass—it’s daily news! And yet you, GOD, the Master, even though it is certain that the city will be turned over to the Babylonians, also told me, Buy the field. Pay for it in cash. And make sure there are witnesses.’’”
“‘See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said. And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field– paying good money for it before these witnesses– even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.’”
As in Jeremiah’s time, things look grim in ours too. And yet God is still in control, his purpose will come to pass and he promises to shepherd us through the good and the bad. He promises in the end good will triumph and swallow evil. Believing this we have a powerful testimony. May we faithfully share it by word and deed.
Lord, thank you for the peace of knowing Good will triumph and all creation be renewed at the end of all things. Grant me wisdom to share this without sounding as though I’m careless of others hopelessness. Help me to engage their fears while standing firm on my lack of it.
Jeremiah 31:3-34
“‘This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about GOD. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” GOD’s Decree.’”
“‘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.’”
This key ministry of God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, works incognito. He becomes our ally in resisting the draw of our sinful nature. He prepares us for eternity by raising us as a parent does a child. All this is accomplished with a quiet, gentle voice, never forcing, always inviting. God within, guiding and empowering, is the only way we will ever rise above our collective dysfunction. It is ours to quiet the self, listen and choose obedience to our mighty and loving Lord.
Oh yes Lord! May ‘me’ be quieted so I can listen to you. Heal, protect, and guide me by your gentle indwelling presence. I am nothing apart from the good you do in me. Do more of it Lord. Fill me with your good and vanquish my bad. Set me free to enjoy the wide-open spaces made possible by Christ’s death and your Spirit’s ministry. All glory, wisdom and power is yours Lord. I worship you.
Jeremiah 31:27-28
“‘Be ready. The time’s coming’—GOD’s Decree—’when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer plants seed. And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they start over, building and planting.’”
“‘The day is coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will greatly increase the human population and the number of animals here in Israel and Judah. In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”
The Lord is a restorer. For centuries mankind viewed the natural world with reverence. The land gave when it was respected. Then came the dominion mandate and the industrial revolution. Greed entered. Now our climate is going haywire, and we reap the consequences of our corporate sin. God restored the ravaged land for returning Israel’s benefit. He can do the same for our tired world. It seems impossible the entire globe would see the error of our collective misuse of our precious earth. But with God all things are possible. So, I will pray for conviction and restoration. Perhaps God may hear from heaven and grant us reprieve.
Lord, forgive me for my share in our beloved earth’s decline. I’ve been lazy at times, abusing the throw away and temporary. I’ve driven when I could have walked. I’ve wasted when I could have conserved. Show me how to respect your creation more fully. Convict all of us how we can change. Give us a heart that wants to.
Jeremiah 31:20
“‘Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son, my child in whom I take pleasure! Every time I mention his name, my heart bursts with longing for him! Everything in me cries out for him. Softly and tenderly I wait for him.’ GOD’s Decree.”
“‘Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?’ says the Lord. ‘I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.’”
God has a lover’s heart. Having made us, he freed us, and hoped we would choose to return to him. He waits for us, longs for us. How can this be? The Creator, big and powerful beyond our imagination, longs for us, each individual in a sea of humanity. Were he without love, there would be no need for judgment and we would sin ourselves unto destruction. Amazing, this big God cares, calls, forgives and redeems. Those who know him cannot help but love him.
Lord, it is a great privilege to know you. I am undone with gratitude. I owe you everything. Help me return it to you willingly, denying you nothing you may ask for, always delighted to follow and serve you with all my heart.
Jeremiah 31:13
“I’ll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.”
“I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.”
Oh yes Lord! Change my tears into laughter. Comfort the ache in my heart. Invade me with your presence, filling me with joy in my salvation and knowing you.
Jeremiah 30:18-19
“I’ll turn things around for Jacob. I’ll compassionately come in and rebuild homes. The town will be rebuilt on its old foundations; the mansions will be splendid again. Thanksgivings will pour out of the windows; laughter will spill through the doors. Things will get better and better. Depression days are over. They’ll thrive, they’ll flourish. The days of contempt will be over.”
“This is what the Lord says: ‘When I bring Israel home again from captivity and restore their fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt on its ruins, and th4e palace reconstructed as before. There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people, not dimmish them; I will honor them, not despise them.’”
I need this promise for myself today. Illness and relationships have narrowed my life into an unhealthy place. I need hope that God can rebuild our lives to flourish and prosper.
Lord, show me what to do, how to be. Help me walk in faith with you, trusting you for our future. Comfort the present ache in my heart. Restore me to living fully and joyfully. Grace me with what I don’t deserve. May your best plan for us come to pass. May we faithfully follow your lead as you take us there.
Jeremiah 29:10-13
“This is GOD’s Word on the subject: ‘As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. ’When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. - ’When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. ‘Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.’ GOD’s Decree.”
“This is what the LORD says: ‘You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 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.”
This is one of the more famous promises of scripture. I love the way Peterson has fleshed out the text in the Message. God has it, “all planned out,” “for the future you hope for,” and when we want God, “more than anything else,” he will make sure, “we are not disappointed.” Seemingly, the promise is reserved for when we are at the end of our rope, when we have done all we can do and trusting God is all that is left. The walk of faith travels from promise to fulfilment. This believing is our life’s work. Discovering God’s faithfulness at this juncture forms the bedrock of our faith. And we can get there only through adversity.
Lord, thank you for the afflictions of my life that have led me to trust you. Thank you for the bedrock you are building under me, making me fit for eternity. May I return your faithfulness to you and trust you know what you are doing. Forgive my weakness. Build it into my strength.
Jeremiah 26:7-9
“Everybody there—priests, prophets, and people—heard Jeremiah preaching this Message in the Temple of GOD. When Jeremiah had finished his sermon, saying everything God had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and people all grabbed him, yelling, ‘Death! You’re going to die for this! How dare you preach—and using GOD’s name!—saying that this Temple will become a heap of rubble like Shiloh and this city be wiped out without a soul left in it!’” All the people mobbed Jeremiah right in the Temple itself.”
“The priests, the prophets, and all then people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the Lord’s Temple. But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. ‘Kill him!’ they shouted. ‘What right do you have to prophesy in the Lord’s name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed and left with no inhabitants?’ And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.”
These Israelites put faith in their heritage, not in the God who gave it to them. A modern equivalent would be a crazy man standing in the capital building shouting that all of Washington D.C. would be destroyed by a Russian invasion. We would be indignant. It is ridiculous to say our country, with its heritage of democracy, a light of hope for the nations, could ever be destroyed. We would be just like those ancient Jews, putting our faith in our institutions instead of the One who gave us the moral and intellectual foundation for them.
Lord, forgive us our hubris. Instead, may we see ourselves as poor, blind and naked, and in need of your help. Show us our sin and weakness that we may repent our self-satisfaction and turn to you, the lover of our souls and the creative force behind all our accomplishments. Amen.
Jeremiah 26:2-3
“GOD’s Message: Stand in the court of GOD’s Temple and preach to the people who come from all over Judah to worship in GOD’s Temple. Say everything I tell you to say to them. Don’t hold anything back. Just maybe they’ll listen and turn back from their bad lives. Then I’ll reconsider the disaster that I’m planning to bring on them because of their evil behavior.”
“This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard in front of the Temple of the Lord, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message, include every word. Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will change my mind about the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins.”
After chapters of judgement God says this. It is amazing. His great love for us compels him to offer a way out. He does not want to destroy us but to call us home. Judah only must turn away from evil and towards God to be healed and spared the awful judgement Jeremiah has faithfully prophesied.
Lord, pour out your Spirit upon this land that we may be convicted of our sin and long for righteousness and truth. Fill us with desire for light and hope that only you can give. Heal us Lord. May we see how desperately we need you.
Jeremiah 25:32
“A Message from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies: ‘Prepare for the worst! Doomsday! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation. A huge storm is about to rage all across planet Earth.’”
“The is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: ‘Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth.’”
Preceding verses in Chapter 25 prophesize destruction to all nations of the then known world, in the Fertile Crescent, the Levant, and Egypt. The prophesy was fulfilled as Babylon swept through, scorching the earth and deporting the intelligentsia. Excepting Egypt, all these nations ceased to exist. Then this warning at the chapter’s center of a storm raging across the earth. Having just watched a WWII documentary, reading was a wake up, like a slap across the face.
The remaining verses balance the chapter with similar prophesy. But this time the warning is general for all the earth. And it describes more potent and widespread destruction. Students of history see present signs of coming conflagration. Warnings like this are a great mercy to those with eyes to heed them. May we be prepared, within and without.
O Lord! It is obvious something big is coming. Make us ready. Pour out your Spirit upon this land that we may turn from our selfishness towards you. May you heal and spare us as you did when Ninevah repented at Jonah’s preaching. Give me wisdom in helping to train the young to look ahead in preparation. They have inherited some big problems. Give them big shoulders on which to carry them in these darkening times.