Words…

Read: Jeremiah 35-37
Marked: Jeremiah 35:14, “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father’s commandment. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey Me.”

Sometimes we take the word of men to heart, but not the Word of the Lord. We can be more devoted to our sports or entertainment idols memorizing player statistics, music lyrics, or their appearances in films or TV, but rarely devote much, if any time, to memorizing Scripture or remaining obedient to what God says.

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Nothing Too Hard…

Read: Jeremiah 32-34
Marked: Jeremiah 32:17, ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

In spite of all Jeremiah experienced and suffered as a prophet of God, his faith in God hadn’t wavered. He had an intimate relationship with His Creator. After I undergo trials or difficulties do I still continue to hold onto faith?

Jeremiah understood the power of God through creation; that there was nothing too hard for Him. Jeremiah understood even when things were bad that God’s lovingkindness had not diminished (V18).

God was still there to counsel and His eyes are open to all the ways of men (V19). Jeremiah held onto what God had done in the past in Egypt and in Israel. They were proofs of His power and he regarded the Exodus as fact (V20-22).

According to the word of God, Jeremiah and his people had received the fruit of God’s promise to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.

Yet, in spite of all God had done for them, they had not obeyed God or walked in His law (V23). And still God was not finished with them and promised to restore them (V38). What a great God we have.

Trouble up Ahead…

Read: Jeremiah 30-31
Marked: Jeremiah 30:7, Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

Through Jeremiah God reveals His intentions to return Israel and Judah and restore them from captivity V1-3). Yet, we see a future time when they will once again tremble, fear, and lack peace. Men will clutch their loins like a woman in labour (V6).

This is the time of Jacob’s Trouble, a future time of trouble that will exceed the trouble of the Babylonian exile, described here as great. This great day is mentioned in other Scripture (Zephaniah 1:14; Revelation 6:17; 16:14).

Jesus spoke at length of this coming great day, this time of Jacob’s Trouble in Matthew 24. But as with the Babylonian exile, God promises restoration even from this future calamity. They can take comfort because of what they experienced in Babylon (V7-12).

Seek Peace…

Read: Jeremiah 26-29
Marked: Jeremiah 29:7, And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

These chapters are remarkable as God sends Jeremiah to warn the people that He is going to bring calamity on Judah because of their sin (C26:3).

But there were others who spoke against Jeremiah and said God was going to restore Israel and bring back all the articles that Babylon had taken. But God told Jeremiah that they were speaking lies.

There is a lot going on in the world today and even the church is uneasy. Some say God is going to bring revival. Others are warning that God is bringing judgment.

God told His people through Jeremiah that for a time they were to submit to Babylon and live under their yoke. They were to build houses, plant gardens, take wives and have children, and seek the peace of the city where they would be carried away.

Those that refused to submit would suffer sword, famine, and pestilence (V17), the very things we see happening in the world today as war rages in Ukraine, affecting food production, and as COVID continues to affect the world and new and old diseases appear.

Yet God says live among them. Trust in Me. Live at peace and raise families. Seek the peace of the city where God has carried them.

God is doing His work in the world. Live at peace and allow Him to do His work.

False Prophets…

Read Jeremiah 23-25
Marked: Jeremiah 23:17, They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And [to ]everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”

There is a false belief that says we can live in rebellion to God and still be covered by grace. After all, God is a god of love and doesn’t punish those He loves. They say, “Don’t worry about it, you shall have peace.”

And so, people have no standard, and do whatever seems right to them. They have no sense of right and wrong, or truth and error. The word of men is equal or superior to the Word of God.

But God says, “I have not sent these prophets.” (V21) They prophesy false dreams and cause people to err by their lies (V32). Be sure of what the Lord says.

Forsaken…

Read: Jeremiah 18-22
Marked: Jeremiah 22:9, “Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”

God’s patience with His people is at an end. After warning them through Jeremiah and other prophets He is about to prepare destroyers against them (V7).

People struggle with this aspect of God’s character. Like the people then, they will ask, “Why has the Lord done so?” (V8)

Some see in Scripture two Gods. The wrathful vengeful God of the Old Testament, and the merciful gracious God of the New Testament. But He is the same God.

God’s wrath falls on us because we, like them, forsake the covenant of the Lord, and worship other gods and serve them; the gods of self and unrighteousness, injustice and covetousness.

Nothing is Hidden…

Read: Jeremiah 14-17
Marked: Jeremiah 16:17, “For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.”

Do we mistakenly believe that God doesn’t see? Or worse, that He doesn’t care? Can we go on doing our own thing and think God is oblivious to our sins?

It’s a grave mistake to think God’s grace causes Him to stay His hand. History contained in Scripture refutes that notion. If God dealt with His people and their sin, He will surely deal with the sin of the world. They are not hidden from His face.

Dismayed at the Signs…

Read: Jeremiah 10-13
Marked: Jeremiah 10:2-3, Thus says the LORD: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples [are] futile; For [one] cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

The futility of making an idol. An idol is the work of man’s hands and decorated. But as beautiful as man might make it, it is deaf and dumb and cannot move on it’s own. It is neither evil nor good (V5).

In a similar way man looks at creation and determines in his limited knowledge and understanding how these things came to be discounting the Word of God the Creator and making an idol of worthless doctrines changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man (Romans 1:23).

But the Lord is the true God, the living God who made the earth by His power and established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heavens at His discretion.

Lying Words…

Read: Jeremiah 7-9
Marked: Jeremiah 7:8, “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.”

The Bible claims to be the word of truth, yet few people trust in it. Numbers 23:19 says God is not a man that He should lie. It’s been observed that even Christians worship God one day a week and then live for hell the other six.

Paul was slanderously accused of saying that we can do evil that good may come (Romans 3:8). So, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (Romans 6:1). Of course not.

Sin is to be punished and we who are in Christ are dead to sin. We are no longer slaves to sin. We can’t continue to steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods, and then stand before God and worship Him and think His grace will cover it. (V9-10)

If we think we can we have bought into lying words and the truth is not in us.

Washed Hearts…

Read: Jeremiah 4-6
Marked: Jeremiah 4:14, O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

Like those in Jerusalem, all of us need to have our hearts washed from wickedness. You might say, “But I’m not wicked. I’m a good person.”

But how we look on the outside is no indication of what is going on within. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

It was this way from the beginning. In Genesis 6:5 we read, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

No one really knows what thoughts and intentions and wicked schemes live in the heart of man except the man (1 Corinthians 2:11).  We all need to have our hearts washed.

We all need a new heart to be cleansed from wickedness, wicked thoughts and intentions which are every bit as sinful as the sinful acts we commit. We must come to Jesus to be saved.