Thursday, April 21, 2011

Jeremiah Chapters 13-15

13:7 and 11 - God has always used creative teaching moments to drive home points to his people. This should really inspire parents and leaders of any sort to get creative in the ways that they communicate truth to the people who follow them. In this instance, God tells Jeremiah to bury some underwear in the mud of the river and leave it there for a while. When Jeremiah comes back to get it, the cloth is rotten and useless. God says the point is that His people are supposed to cling to Him as underwear clings to the body - they are supposed to hold tight to their God. Yet because of the sin they have allowed into their society, they have become utterly rotten and they have lost the ability to cling to God...they have become useless. We need to remember that as sin rots us from the inside it becomes harder and harder for us to turn to God and hold to God and rely on Him. The longer we let unchecked sin run wild in our lives, the harder it is connect with God.

13:27 - Do you ever spend time thinking about the fact that God sees everything you do - seriously? I don't think about that very often, but I think I should. It really drives home the reality that you are not alone...there is never a time where you can sin when "nobody knows about it." There are no hidden sins before God. He knows all the vile and evil things that are done in our lives and in our hearts. Let this knowledge drive you to seek righteousness and do everything you can to be clean before God.

14:14 - The false prophets are telling the people exactly what they want to hear. What they don't understand is that they are actually helping to destroy the people by making them feel better, while simultaneously bringing the wrath of God upon themselves for lying in His name. And these things go on in churches today don't they? There are pastors who are much more focused on keeping people happy than they are about calling their people to righteousness. We offer ourselves excuses for living the way our culture tells us to live by minimizing the difficulty of a life lived to honor God. No good can come of this.

14:21 - I found it interesting that the people plead with God to show them mercy for His name's sake...honestly, they hit the nail right on the head. If you think about it, God is the one who is ultimately shamed by this entire process of disciplining His people. He is absolutely humiliated. The God who created the universe with a word, chooses a specific group of people to be His priest-nation in the world - to be a light to all nations - and they reject Him! His own people turn away from Him! Other nations are allowed to come in and conquer them and those people think their false gods are more powerful than the only God. God is disgraced, yet He loves His people so much that He is willing to go through that humiliation...willing to punish the people He loves, so that they will return to Him.

15:4 - So what did Manasseh do? He was one of the kings who led his people in the worship of idols and false gods...he took part in child sacrifice...he basically taught his people to hate the Word of God. And though he repented towards the end of his life, the consequences of his actions were far reaching. Just because we are forgiven for our sins does not mean that the vile legacy of our sinful choices does not continue on.

15:6 - God says, "ENOUGH! I have relented again and again. I have called you back to me. I have warned you. I have showed you more mercy than you deserved, and you still continue to turn away from your God. To deny your covenant relationship. So the time has come...I will pour out my wrath and discipline upon you in the hopes that you will finally get the picture and come back to me."

15:10 - This reminds me a lot of Job 3:1-26. Jeremiah is cursing the very day that he was born. He is throwing a little pity party for himself. He tells God, "I wish I had never been born if this is all you have for me...everyone I know id totally against me!" He and Job both could not see God's overall plan through the horrible circumstances they were experiencing. We must remember when times are tough that although we may not understand what God is doing...He knows what He is doing.

15:19 - God answers back to Jeremiah: "Stay true to me...speak the words that I have put inside of you...and I will protect you." Even when it seems like the whole world is turned against us, our number one priority has got to be staying true to God and the work that He is doing though our lives.

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