Jeremiah Chapters 50-52

50:17-19 - This is a great illustration and a simple retelling of the Book of Jeremiah. The sheep (Judah) have gone astray...they have left the safety of their shepherd's flock (As Israel turned away from God). Because of this, the sheep were hunted down and devoured by lions (Assyria and Babylon). But fortunately, the sheep have a tenacious shepherd who goes out and finds them and brings them back into the fold. That is the story of Jeremiah in a nutshell.

50:31-32 - This verse really struck me between the eyes, because I know I struggle with pride so much. In fact, as I was reading this passage, I was having trouble focusing on the text because my mind kept wandering back to an incident where I had my pride wounded and was wondering what I needed to do about it. Suddenly, this verse cuts through the fog and grabs my attention. I need to be reminded often about how God feels about those who are selfishly proud or who take pride in themselves. The proud are the enemies of God...He will bring them low and I don't want to be against Him!

51:7 - This is really great imagery from Jeremiah. Babylon offers this cup of their culture to the world and the people around them greedily drink it up. They want what Babylon has - they want power, prestige, wealth, etc. They gulp down what Babylon is offering and soon find out that is does nothing but drive them mad. My mind immediately jumped to the chief export of the United States - our cultural madness. As Christians in the United States, what can we do to bring cultural changes to a country that sells its brand of self-centered consumerism all over the world? Many of us have drunk it up too...what needs to change in my life...in yours?

51:15-16 - If there was any doubt about Babylons chances at standing against God, Jeremiah clears that all up pretty quickly. God is the creator and the sustainer of everything and his wrath will not be escaped. Something it wouldn't hurt for you and I to remember 0n a daily basis.

52:4-5 - They were besieged for almost two years...can you imagine that? No you can't. Re-read chapter 19 if you want to see how Jeremiah describes what will happened. Trapped in a walled city for two years. The filth and disease must have been rampant. Famine and starvation lead to cannibalism. Fear and depression probably lead to suicides and infighting. This is an utterly heartbreaking punishment that the people of Judah have brought down on themselves.

52:17 - The decorations in the house of the Lord are torn down. They are broken to pieces and shipped back to Babylon. Bronze that was once used in worship of the Lord, goes back to Babylon to be turned into weapons and mirrors and pots and pans...it is totally humiliating to God. Don't forget that when human beings reject their creator they not only bring humility on themselves, but on the name of God too.

52:31-33 - Jehoiachin is brought out of prison by the Babylonian king. He is treated with kindness and respect. Give clothes, a place to stay, and food for life. Doesn't this seem like such a strange way to end the book of Jeremiah? Why is it that Jeremiah ends by telling us this tid-bit of information? Because Jehoiachin is in the line of King David...even in the midst of exile, the line continues on...hope still exists...God is faithful.

Jeremiah Chapters 47-49

48:7 - It is a scary thing to read passages like this and be a part of our culture. When we place our hope and trust in material goods and human strength, we set ourselves against God. We declare that these things are more important to us than God and we become His enemies. Why is it so hard to learn that these things we put so much stock in...spend so much money on...give so much time to...are powerless to give us what we are searching for?

48:44 - This is the original "out of the frying pan, into the fire" statement. If you run, you will fall into the pit. If you climb out of the pit, you will be caught in the snare. That sounds pretty un-fun "out of the pit and into the bear trap!" This is something I don't think we realize sometimes...you cannot run from the wrath of the Lord...you cannot run from judgement. Throw yourself on His mercy.

49:6 and 39 - Even in the midst of three chapters of judgement, suffering and pain - we see that God is working for the greater good of all people. There is hope for the Ammonites and the Elamites, even though they have spent generations rejecting God. There is hope because God is good and even His anger is aimed at bringing redemption in the end. Know that no matter what you have been through...what you have done...there is always redemption waiting when you turn to God.

Jeremiah Chapters 44-46

44:7 and 9 - God continues the conversation started n the previous chapter by speaking through Jeremiah to the Jews who fled Judah for Egypt despite God's instructions to stay. God questions them, "Why have you left even though I told you to stay? Have you already forgotten that it was your lack of listening that brought destruction upon Judah?" They are stubborn people that refuse to learn from the past...that sounds a little familiar!

44:16-17 - After being warned again and again the people defiantly refuse to listen. The women boldly say to Jeremiah's face that they will worship whoever they want to worship...and where are the husbands? Silent. Refusing to take up their role as spiritual leaders in their families. All the people do not understand that it was their idolatrous sin that got them into the terrible position they find themselves in the first place. They want to blame God. They want to blame Jeremiah. They want to blame the lack of sacrifices they have made to false God's. When what they really need to do is come to grips with their own guilt and repent.

45:5 - A bleak future gets prophesied over Baruch who is Jeremiah's scribe. Jeremiah tells Baruch not to set his sights on the things of this world or worldly success, because everything they know will be destroyed by God due to the idolatry of the Israelites. Jeremiah and Baruch have a ministry of repentance that God has called them to, but it will not end successfully...they will be rejected and abused for doing the will of God. But God promises that Baruch will be given his life in the end. The Bible never tells us that following God's will is easy! And I have to say, there is a beautiful simplicity in which Baruch will be able to function. He will have nothing, so he cannot be obsessed with the meaningless of this world, and he will not be successful so he will not have to deal with pride issues - all that is left for Baruch is utter reliance on God.

46:11 - The Egyptians had a very advanced culture with many medical breakthroughs in the ancient world, but they had nothing to bring healing to the soul. In fact, they culture was absolutely corrupt and did nothing but putrefy people's souls. They may have been healthy on the outside, but they were twisted and sick on the inside. Sounds a lot like the US to me.

46:28 - There is always a bit of hope thrown in at the end of violent prophecies about the future. God uses vile nations as a tool for judgment against the sins of the Israelites to discipline them, but in the end those nations will be destroyed and a remnant in Israel will always remain. God is faithful to His promises and the Jewish people are His chosen priest nation.

Jeremiah Chapters 40-43

40:2ff - I always find it interesting when non-believing characters from the Bible seem to have a better understanding of God then God's own people do. This pagan Babylonian official Nebuzaradan affirms Jeremiah as a prophet more than any Israelite ever has! He says, "I know you prophesied about us winning this war, and I know that your God has allowed this to happen because your people have sinned against Him." Nebuzaradan gets it! He understands what has just happened and most of the Israelites and Judeans do not! He allows Jeremiah to go and choose where he wants to end up...he says he can come to Babylon and be completely taken care of, or he can choose to stay behind. Though life would have been easier in Babylon for Jeremiah, he chooses to stay behind because he has been called to speak to the Children of God.

40:9 - Apparently Gedaliah is one of the few Israelites who also seems to understand the prophecies of Jeremiah. He knows that God has allowed the conquering to take place and encourages his fellow countrymen to work with the Babylonians.

40:16 - Gedaliah seems like a competent enough leader...he listens to Jeremiah, is respected by his fellow Jews, and is working well with the Babylonians...but he refuses to listen to the advice of men that come to warn him about a possible assassination attempt. This turns out to be a huge mistake on his part!

41:2ff - Ishmael and the men with him come to Mizpah and have dinner with Gedaliah, a sign of companionship and hospitality. But Ishmael is a treacherous man who uses the hospitality and trust of Gedaliah to slaughter the man and take all of the people following him captive. It strikes me as ironic that Ishmael is so zealous for his country that he is willing to kill fellow Jews, but that he is working with the Assyrians. Does he really think the Assyrians are going to be better than the Babylonians? The issue has never been about physical power...it has been about spiritual faithfulness, and Ishmael is a great example of the lack of faithfulness to God during this time in Israel's history.

41:5 - Not only is Ishmael willing to kill Jewish leaders that are working with the Babylonians, but he is willing to slaughter a group of Jewish pilgrims who have come to worship God so that he can have a little more time to escape before anyone finds out that he has killed Gedaliah. The pilgrims show up at the wrong time, so he kills them...plain and simple. Ishmael is willing to slaughter faithful Jews in order to "cleanse" the land - that seems like pretty twisted logic to me.

41:17-18 - After Johanan and the others capture back the people who were taken from Gedaliah and chase Ishmael off, they prepare to head to Egypt so they will not have to face the wrath of the Babylonians. They are right to be scared. When revolts broke out in newly conquered territories in ancient times, the revolts were dealt with swiftly and violently. Even though Johanan and his followers did not kill Gedaliah, they do not know that Nebuchadnezzar will believe them...they are ready to flee.

42:2ff - In a move that actually makes sense, they decide to go to Jeremiah and ask him to speak to God on their behalf before they leave for Egypt. They say that they want to know what God wants them to do. They swear to Jeremiah that whatever God tells them to do...they will do. I think they only do this because they assume that they already know what God wants them to do. They are just trying to cover their bases spiritually. There is no way that God would want them to remain behind, right?

42:9ff - Jeremiah comes back to them after ten days and tells them the exact opposite of what they wanted to hear. He says that everything will be alright if they remain in Israel. God is more powerful than the Babylonian leaders and He will protect them from any wrath that might be coming their way. They wanted confirmation on their escape to Egypt and instead, God called them to stay put. Ever been there yourself? Think you have everything all figured out and you want God to affirm YOUR plan for your life when all the sudden He is calling you to do something that couldn't be further from what you wanted to do. So the Judeans are faced with a dilemma - what are they gonna do?

43:2 - The leaders call Jeremiah a liar and they refuse to listen to what he has to say. They didn't get the answer from God that they wanted, so they choose to reject God's instructions. I can understand where they are coming from - to stay behind would almost look like suicide...the Babylonians are gonna come back and somebody has got to pay for the murder of Gedaliah (The Babylonian appointed official!). From the human perspective, the will of God seems impossibly hard. But you cannot simply look at the situation from a human perspective...God is at work in the events of the world. God often calls us to do things that are truly impossible by our own strength, but He is willing to offer us His strength and He does not place a call on us for no reason. We must learn to trust God and to go faithfully where He calls us to go. The more we ignore His path and try to go our own way, the weaker our faith becomes. The more we trust God and choose to chase Him down paths that seems impossible to us, the more faithful we become.

43:6 - Then they left for Egypt and "took" all the other Judeans with them, including Jeremiah.

43:8ff - When they get to the outskirts of Egypt, Jeremiah pulls out another one of his powerful sermon illustrations that come straight from God...and talk about dramatic! He takes huge stones tears up the cobblestone streets of Talphanes (I'm sure the Egyptian officials were really pleased about that!), then he buries the stones and covers them back up. The Jewish people are all watching him do this and after he is done he says, "These stones will be a foundation for the throne of Nebuchadnezzar, because God is going to once again use him as a tool to bring judgement to the world! There is no escape for you who refused to listen to God. Babylon will take over Egypt next...they will destroy the Egyptian idols and all the Jews who refused to stay behind as well!" That had to be a really fun sermon to hear for everybody, the Egyptians and the Jews. There is never a happy ending when the people of God refuse to follow Him and listen to His voice.

Jeremiah Chapters 37-39

37:2 - A haunting legacy that sounds a great deal like the the descriptions of the lives of many of the kings in 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Zedekiah's name goes down as synonymous with faithlessness and corruption. It is passages like these that make me think about my own legacy? What is the legacy that I am going to leave behind? How about you? What will people say about us when we are gone? How will they summarize our lives? Live out an eternal legacy.

37:3 - The audacity of these leaders of Judah is boundless! They reject God's call to faithfully follow Him...they deny that Jeremiah's prophecies are legitimate and call him a liar...they serve only themselves and oppress the weak...yet when things get tough they come running immediately to Jeremiah, asking him to put in a "good word" with God. We act like this sometimes, don't we? Live our lives completely oblivious to the presence of God and the work of God in this world...totally focused on ourselves and our pleasure...and then everything falls apart and we go running to God. God deserves so much more from us.

37:12 - What does it mean when it says that Jeremiah is going out to receive his portion from among the people? Well, it seems that Jeremiah is leaving Jerusalem after the Babylonian siege has been lifted for a short time...he is going to the land of his ancestors - the Benjaminites - and will lay claim to his share of the land there. He knows for a fact that there is not going to be much left of Jerusalem, so he is going to get the ancestral land he is due. But the guards accuse him of trying to turn traitor and go over the other side and they beat him and throw him in prison. Old Testament prophet is a really tough gig!

38:2 - I read these passage and you have to give Jeremiah credit for his willingness to speak the truth that God has placed on his heart no matter what...his commitment is incredible! At any time, in any culture on the earth - telling people on your side to give up and go over to the side of the enemy would be considered treasonous behavior and probably be worth getting killed for. But Jeremiah knows that his words are the truth from God, and he cares more about the people of Israel than he does about his own life. He wants to give them a chance at salvation and continues to teach the hard truth even when death is looming over his head. And to think, there are times when you and I are scared to represent God's name and truth because somebody might think we're weird...pretty pathetic.

38:6 - I thought it was interesting that the passage very clearly states that Jeremiah was lowered down by ropes into the cistern. I mean, they want to kill this guy right? They hate his guts...why not just shove him in the cistern and get it over with? I think that they lower him down into the cistern so they won't have his blood on their hands figuratively. I think in some twisted way they have convinced themselves that if they place him on the bottom of the well alive and he "just happens" to die of natural consequences (Like starvation or death by mud), then they won't actually be the ones that killed him. Just an interesting detail, that further illustrates the twisted nature of the leaders of God's people.

38:12 - Here we have another interesting detail that is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the first...Ebed-Melech not only fights for Jeremiahs release and goes to get him out of the well, but he very compassionately even brings some old rags along so that the ropes will be more comfortable under Jeremiah's arms. This speaks pretty highly to the kind nature of Ebed-Melech. The group that puts Jeremiah in the well, lowers him gently to the bottom, not out of courtesy, but because they want to cover their own butts. Ebed, who could have just pulled Jeremiah up roughly and still been seen as a faithful man of God, shows the true depth of his character by taking time to get rags and see to Jeremiah's comfort as well as safety. Often times faith is lived out in the little, everyday, details of courtesy and loving-kindness.

38:22 - Very ironic - Jeremiah tells the king that he sees a vision of the king stuck in mud as the kingdom crashes down around him, a short after Jeremiah himself has literally been trapped in mud at the bottom of a cistern. Great writing! I also wonder if this gives us some clue as to how Zedekiah is caught in verse 39:5 after he runs away from Jerusalem. It says he was caught on the plains of Jericho...was it muddy that day? Did the mud slow up the horses...did a chariot break an axle? We don't know but it is interesting to theorize - maybe the Babylonians came upon the powerful king of Judah bogged down in mud, in a filthy and pathetic state.

38:24 - The king knows exactly what is going to happen - Jeremiah has told him over and over - but instead of acting like a true leader, he orders Jeremiah to be silent about the prophecy and he ignores the warnings yet again. The king refuses to trust God to the end, which fits in perfectly with the legacy of faithlessness that already permeated his life.

39:6 - This is a horrifying and heartbreaking end to the story. All of his sons would have lived, if he had just listened to Jeremiah...if he had just trusted God. Jeremiah told him that he and his family would be spared if they gave themselves up tot he king...but in his pride he refused and his kids paid the price for it. They are all slaughtered before his eyes and the vanquished king is blinded and dragged off to Babylon as a showpiece of the victory. How often to this day, to children pay the price for the sins of their parents? Parenting is a sacred duty that requires our total commitment and faithfulness...things that were not abundant in Zedekiah. Hopefully that is different for you.

39:12 - Why is it that the king of Babylon sends out orders for Jeremiah to be freed and taken care of? It is possible that the king has heard that Jeremiah has been prophesying about Babylon's victory and the supremacy of the king from people who have deserted Jerusalem. That would make sense. But we cannot discount the fact that Jeremiah is under the protection of God and the simplest explanation could be that God made it so...God moved Nebuchadnezzar's heart to release the prophet. Either way, Jeremiah's faithfulness is honored in the end.

39:16 and 18 - Because Ebed-Melech made the counter-cultural choice to stand with Jeremiah, thus aligning himself with God, he was one of the few leaders of Jerusalem that was spared. There are times when living faithfully is difficult, but we mus always remember that trusting God and fighting for His kingdom in this world will always pay off in the end.

Jeremiah Chapters 34-36

34:17 - You can turn your bibles back to Deuteronomy chapter 15 and read through the laws that God set up with regards to the treatment of slaves. This is yet another area where God shows His incredible, culture-changing compassion. In this ancient world, slaves were taken by war and by debts and they were kept forever...they were harshly mistreated. We may be asking ourselves - why would God even allow slavery? I think this is another instance of God allowing human beings to work through their hard-heartedness...God allowed them to keep slaves, but demanded that they be treated kindly. Most of the slavery among fellow Jews had to do with unpaid debts and the relationships was really more like indentured service. The reason I bring up Duet. 15 is so that we can all understand that treating slaves like human beings was part of God's covenant with the people. When the rich and powerful people of Israel go back on their promises of freedom and take their slaves back after releasing them - they break their covenant with God (Yet again). God does not go back on His promises, so this does not sit well with Him. God hates when the strong oppress the weak and He hates it even more when His own people are doing it!

34:18-19 - This is another passage that references God's covenant with His people. In Genesis 15:7-21 we see a covenant making ceremony between Abraham and God. Abraham slaughters and divides multiple animals and lays them out in a path...with half of each animal on each side. God (As a smoking firepot - doesn't that sound cool!) and Abraham walk through the bloody path together as a symbol of their covenant. This ceremony is a way for Abraham to acknowledge that if he breaks the covenant with God, he will be slaughtered like the animals they walked through. As we read before - Zedekiah and the other powerful leaders in Israel have broken their covenant with God, and they will face the consequences of their actions. It would probably do us all some good in current-day Christianity to consider more often the seriousness of our own covenant with God. God takes His promises seriously - do you? Does your commitment to be a disciple of Jesus Christ permeate every area of your life?

35:14 - The teaching illustrations that Jeremiah uses are incredible! Here God instructs Jeremiah to use the Recabite people as an illustration. See, these people are an extremely conservative branch of Judaism. The patriarch of the family, Jonadab, instructed his children and followers not to drink any wine, not to plant crops and not to live in permanent houses. They preferred to stay more connected with their roots as shepherds and nomads. So this human being, Jonadab, asks his children to follow rules that are not even necessary for God worship and they do it faithfully. Yet the Israelites refuse to listen to the warnings and call of God as He tries to guide them over and over. Jeremiah compares the faith of both parties to highlight the depravity of the nation. It seems absurd that people would be able to commit themselves fully to limitations placed on them by a peer group, yet refuse to submit to the will of their creator, but it happens all the time doesn't it? I have high school kids that will memorize 200 lines for a school play but never even read their bible. I have other students who punish their bodies to become better athletes who give their relationship with God no real consideration. How about you?

36:5 - So why was Jeremiah banned? We do not know for sure, but you can bet that it was because everything that came out of his mouth made people feel uncomfortable. I mean, you are reading the book with me right? Everything the man says is divisive and negative (And also directly from the mouth of God)...so I guess finally the priests got tired of him and banned him from teaching in the temple. Maybe it happened back in chapter 26 where the people almost lynched Jeremiah for his strong words...any way you cut it, it is just another sign that the people refuse to listen to the voice of God.

36:23-24 - I mean, it would be crazy to burn a scroll that came from a prophet of God regardless, but this is just twisted and insane. The king sits there and listens to the prophecy word for word and just cuts off little bits and burns them one after the other. The arrogance and sickness here is colossal! The picture that comes to mind for me is Mr. Dursley burning the hundreds of letters that Harry Potter receives inviting him to Hogwarts one at a time in the first movie. Dursley has this look of insane glee on his face as he burns them and I bet Jehoakim looked pretty similar. Neither the king nor any of his officials feel any fear and they listen to the words of God and then burn them...their disgusting arrogance will seal their own fate.

Jeremiah Chapters 31-33

31:2 - There are some really beautiful promises in today's passages...here we see that the people are promised that after the pas through the initial judgement, the pain, the suffering...they will be able to see the grace of God at work. Isn't that true? There are times when we go through painful "desert" experiences, where we question what God is doing. But on every occasion where I have experienced something like that, I have come to see the grace of God and the way He was shaping me through the situation.

31:3 - No matter what your misconceptions about God's nature in the OT are (Some people think He is mean, cruel, angry, etc.), we are told plainly over and over what the reality is: God's love is everlasting and steadfast...though His people reject Him over and over, He is always faithful to His promises.

31:13-14 - As always, after the promises of punishment are the promises of future peace and restoration. God allows the people of Israel to be exiled so that thy will eventually draw closer to Him.

31:15 - This is another prophecy from Jeremiah about the life of Jesus. This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 2:18 when the Jewish children were slaughtered in a failed attempt to kill Jesus.

31:22 - Now this is a verse that is often very confusing to people. What does it mean - "now a woman encircles a man?" Well, this has a lot to do with the concepts of the New Covenant and the Old Covenant. I can't tell you how many Christians I know that believe that Jesus ushered in a New Covenant that completes makes the Old one meaningless. I know people who feel no need to spend time in the OT because they have the NEW Testament. What we need to understand is that Jesus did not come to usher in a new covenant, meaning something completely different...he made the covenant "new", as in - he restored it to what it was really supposed to be all along. Jesus himself said he did not come to abolish the Law and prophets, but to fulfill them. Maybe we should listen to Jesus on this one. God is an everlasting, never-changing God and His covenant is the same. So why did I say all that? Because we have to see that God's intentions for relationships with His people even in the OT are so world and culture shattering it is amazing! Jeremiah is writing to an ancient culture of people that have a very twisted understanding of the role of women in the world. They believe that women are supposed to be subservient and ancient societies generally did their best to oppress women (Even the Jewish people). What is awesome is that Jeremiah, in the OT, shows us that God's real covenant with the people will shake up even the roles of women in society. Women will not just be looked at as helpless individuals who exist to serve/please men, but they will once again take on the role of guide, protector, "helpmate" for men as was originally intended (In the garden). That is radical, revolutionary teaching from the OT and it came thousands of years before human cultures began t actually treat women as people of true worth. How cool is that? And when I think about my relationship with my wife...this passage just comes to life. She is a wise woman and often steps into my life to "protect" me from experiencing the fallout of acting on my impulsive nature. She is always there to offer encouragement, but also good advice and I have no idea what I would do without her.

31:25 - Love that beautiful promise. Replenish my soul God, please.

31:33-34 - As I read this, I see future prophecy about Jesus Christ buried here. When Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins, human beings for the first time since the fall of man in the garden were able to connect themselves to the Spirit of God. That sacrifice cleanses us and makes it so that the Holy Spirit can dwell within us. Why do you think it was so hard for the Israelites to remain faithful to God? They didn't have the resources that we have - they didn't have the very essence of God living within them and working on them. We have that! You hear Christians all the time wishing that they could see God at work like they did in the OT...they wish they could hear God speak out of a burning bush, see God part the Red Sea, etc. We think Moses was so fortunate to experience God like that, but if Moses was here, he would be jealous of us. He would probably say, "You get to have the Spirit of the living God dwell within you? WOW!"

32:14-15 - Here is another powerful illustration from Jeremiah. Though an army is literally besieging the city, Jeremiah goes out and buy some property...buys a vineyard. That is crazy...why would he do that? It is all going to be captured and destroyed soon. He buries the deeds to the property in an urn, to stand as a symbol that one day this land will again be worth something. God will bring His people back and restore them to their promised land. Jeremiah's message is to remain faithful.

32:35 - Why does the punishment of the Israelites seem so harsh? Captured and taken from their homeland for 70 years - whoa! Well, this verse may give you some clues as to why - the people have begun to live lives of utter depravity. God's chosen people are sacrificing their own babies to false idols. God has to destroy the wickedness that exists in His people. Instead of asking how God can be so harsh, we should be asking how He can be so merciful over and over.

32:41 - God cannot wait to get back to the place where He and His people are unified again. Kinda like a father who had to punish His child (Because he loves him) and cannot wait until it is all over, so they can once again play together with joy.

33:6-9- Here we see more promises of future healing while the people are in the midst of pain.

33:15-16 - The true branch that rises from the stump of Jesus - the line of David - is Jesus. Jesus absolutely embodied this promise that "the Lord is our righteousness." God came to earth as a man, showed people what humanity is really supposed to look like by example, and then gave himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. The only way sinners like you and me could ever be righteous is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Lord is our righteousness, literally.

Jeremiah Chapters 28-30

28:10-11 - I guess that Jeremiah has been going around wearing the yoke he built as instructed by God for a while. Jeremiah really likes to drive home the point of his messages from God. In my mind he sleeps in the yoke...walks hunched over all the time because of the yoke weighing him down...he really sells the illustration. It probably makes the Jewish people around him pretty uncomfortable..."Here comes the crazy guy with the yoke that says we're all gonna be enslaved for 70 years! Let's get out of here." So finally Hananiah decides to do something about it...he doesn't like the message that Jeremiah is bringing, so he breaks the yoke off Jeremiah's back and tells everybody that God said there isn't going to be an exile. How often do people lie to themselves in order to hide an uncomfortable truth they don't want to have to face?

28:13-14 - Jeremiah tells Hananiah that the wooden bars of the yoke have now become iron bars...his lies and false prophecy have actually made the situation even worse and they highlight the corruption that was so prevalent in the leadership of Israel at this time. This reminds me of the webs of lies that people often entrap themselves in...they keep lying to avoid consequences, and the more they lie...the worse the situation gets. Face the truth, no matter how difficult, and start to work towards making things better rather than avoiding reality.

28:15 and 17 - This is a great example of why you don't want to ever get involved with lying or misleading the children of God. And though it would be easy to say this passage only applies to church leaders...I think it also drives home the importance of being a godly parent. When you have been give the responsibility of leading - it is a serious task that should be approached with much humility and prayer.

29:7 - God instructs the exiles to accept the situation that has descended on them and to move froward...to go on living their lives. Jeremiah tells them, "Pray for Babylon. Be good citizens. Live God honoring lives in the midst of the pagans." Of all the passages from Jeremiah that apply to the life of a Christian living in America...this one really carries some weight. Instead of trying to cloister together in holy huddles...instead of trying to force a human government to be "Christian" (which it never will - either party) - choose to live your lives as holy exiles. We are exiles from the kingdom of heaven that we will go to one day...pray for your country (and others)...be good citizens...set the example for what it looks like to be the people of God in a broken society.

29:11 - I love this verse...the plans of the Lord are always focused on bringing wholeness to our lives - you can rely on that promise from God. Is life gonna be easy? Not hardly. Is everything gonna go our way? Nope. But the Lord of All has plans that are focused on bringing wholeness to our being. We are disjointed and empty when we reject Him...and He will do whatever it takes to change that (Even if we don't like "what it takes.")

29:23 - The leaders of the Israelites are the most corrupt people of all...they pose as God-fearing, holy leaders, and then they live corrupt live and lie to cover up their actions. But there is a witness that is testifying against them...and this is the most reliable witness of all - God. God needs know proof outside of what He can see for Himself to bring His judgment...remember that the next time you are feeling really judgemental. As Christians we should spend our time focused on living righteous lives to honor our Holy God, as opposed to throwing self-righteous judgement at others.

30:22 - This verse echos back to the original covenant God made with Abraham. God said, "I will make you a great nation and all peoples will be blessed through you." The Israelites are the people of that promise - they are the nation. Though they broke the covenant with God over and over...and though God was forced to allow them to experience the consequences of their actions...He always remains faithful to His promises. He says, "You will be my people, and I will be your God."

30:23-24 - The picture that comes to mind for me is a powerful electrical storm, crackling on the horizon. The lighting bolts split the sky and cause a forest fire to rage through a wooded area. The woods are charred and destroyed by the blaze...destruction is everywhere...yet from the ashes of the blaze grow a new and more vibrant forest...a forest that feeds on the nutrients left behind by the forest fire. After new life begins, you understand we the raging fire needed to come in the first place. The judgement of God is like that...it is fearsome to behold, but once it passes you see that it was necessary to bring change and new life.

Jeremiah Chapters 25-27

25:3 - Can you imagine? 23 years of ministry...23 years of speaking the Word of God and he has absolutely no success to show for it? If that is not a testament to the incredible faithfulness of Jeremiah - I don't know what is? We support missionaries at Northside that have been on the mission field for 10 years and have yet to see a convert...they are living their lives in a Muslim community that is closed to the Gospel, but they remain faithful to the work that God has called them to. Can we remain faithful to God no matter what the circumstances?

25:31 - All flesh will be judged by God...the vile and corrupt with be cut away so that the good can flourish. This reminds me of pruning in a garden. Sometimes a plant must be pruned, cut back, so that it can grow back more healthy later. Are we living for things that are going to be cut away by God eventually? Meaningless things? Or our we living our lives to bring good to the world - to create relationships that will have eternal implications?

26:3 and 13 - The hope from Jeremiah's perspective (Which comes from God) is that there will be repentance. The punishment that God allows to come down on His people exists simply to bring redemption and renewal. This is always the back story of any discipline that God gives His...the discipline comes to bring change and new life.

26:8-9 - Prophets who cal for change and repentance in the midst of corrupt cultures have never been received well. (See: Jesus) If you choose to live in the way of Jesus...if you choose to follow the radical Prophet, Messiah, Priest, God-man Jesus...you will stand out in this corrupt culture and it may not always make life easier for you (In fact, it will most certainly make life harder on occasion). But isn't it worth it? To be connected to your Creator? To be living for eternity now?

26:24 - So who is this Ahikam guy? Well, he is a man from a family of scribes (With a good deal of authority in their Jewish culture) that is willing to stand by Jeremiah's side as he calls the people to repentance. This passage tells us that it is because of Ahikam's support that Jeremiah's life is spared. I think the person of Ahikam is very important for us to key in on because his choice is so applicable to our lives. Not everyone in the Body of Christ is called to be a prophet like Jeremiah, but everyone is called to stand by the Word of God no matter what. We can choose every day to stand by the truth we know from scripture, even if it goes against everything our culture is trying to brainwash us to believe.

27:2-3 - Here we have another classic object illustration from Jeremiah. God tells him to construct a yoke (A harness warn by oxen when they pulled a plow) and to put it on. I can picture Jeremiah stumbling through town, burdened by the heavy weight of the yoke on his shoulders...crying out for the people to accept the captivity that they are about to go into. He wants them to have a vivid picture to remember his words by...God is going to allow His people to be captured...if they accept the punishment they will be allowed to live in their own lands...if they fight back - they will become a ruin. Accept the yoke! Hope lies in accepting the punishment of God...if they try to fight against His discipline it will not go well.

27:5 - This verse offers a powerful reminder to us...God is in control of everything - everything! God is working everything that takes place in the world into the intricate tapestry of His plan for all humanity. God's will...will be done.

27:11 - Be wary of people who tell you exactly what you want to hear. In my experience these are not people that love you, but people that just want to keep you placated. The people in your life that actually love you and want to help you to become the people that God has called you to be in this world, will be willing to speak hard truths to you. Usually it the people saying the things that we don't want to hear, that are echoing the things that God is already telling us in our hearts, right?

Jeremiah Chapters 22-24

22:3 - This passage gives us a picture of what God expects from His people: justice, righteousness, helping the poor/widows/aliens, etc. These are especially the expectations of those who are in positions of leadership. God does not want formal religious activities practiced to hide the rottenness of the heart...He wants to see faithfulness lived out on a daily basis.

22:5 - I laughed at this - "I swear on myself!" Who else is God going to swear on? There is no one better...there is no one more perfect...when God says He is going to do something - He is gonna do it!

22:9 - Why are all these bad things befalling the people of God? Well...they have broken the covenant promises they made to God ("You will be my people and I will be your God.") - they have rejected God for false idols they made themselves and are offering service to statues of stone and wood instead of their creator God. Pretty good grounds for anger there.

22:11 - As I read through this chapter, I got a little confused with all the names of kings that get thrown around here...Shallum, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, etc. Is this one of the contradictions of the Bible that non-Christians always talk about? No. These are all the names of a series of Kings, that were put together in one section of Jeremiah because they are all receiving the same message from him. They were not kings that ruled simultaneously, but kings that were in power at one point or another during Jeremiah's prophetic teachings.

22:15 - Kings, in God's eyes, are not made by their fancy palaces, clothes or the crowns that they wear on their heads. To God, the kings among men are those who live humbly before Him and walk justly in the world. Kings are made by their ability to lead people towards the righteousness of God. At this point in Israel, there were probably a lot more "kings" out amongst the people than there were living in palaces.

23:1 - Let me just say...you do not want to be a church leader and misrepresent or misuse the authority that God has given you...not good. You don't want to be a leader of any sort that abuses the power granted by God...not good...not good at all.

23:3 - Jeremiah says that after the vile and evil leaders are captured and destroyed, that God promises to bring the faithful back together once again into a covenant relationship with Him. God is so merciful! How many times is He going to allow His people to reject Him and then enter back into relationship with them? As many as it takes...

23:5-6 - As always, God promises that there is hope on the horizon. No matter how dour the situation, God is always working to bring His people back to Him. Because the earthly leaders they have been given have failed to lead the people well, God himself will restore the people to His promises. This passage seems like another allusion to God's plan that came in the form of Jesus. In the line of David - check. Righteous branch - check. Embodies the fact that the Lord is our righteousness (literally!) - check.

23:10 - I remember my freshmen year of high school we read a book called "The Once and Future King," about the life of King Aurthur. He went through various philosophies of leadership in life, but at one point when he was young, rash and powerful - Arthur believed that, "might was right." Basically, whoever had the most power made all the rules and was always "right." This concept has always been alluring to the powerful men and women of the world...belief that the strongest are always right. But there needs to be a reality check in all this thinking because God is the ultimate source of power and authority in the universe. He has given power to the leaders of Israel and now they are being called out for using that power incorrectly. Human strength does not make you right, your relationship to God makes you right.

23:13-14 - It was bad when the people chose boldly to worship false idols in the land that God has given them...it was far worse when they pretended to be God-followers and served only themselves. Hypocrisy is vile...if you are going to live in an anti-God fashion, at least have the guts to admit that you are anti-God. Don't call yourself a Christian and then live in opposition to the way of Christ.

23:20 - In the midst of the judgment - it seems harsh and cruel that God is pouring out His anger on the people...they don't understand why these things are happening. But Jeremiah says, "Just wait...one day you will see what God was doing during these hard times." As brutal as this world can be sometimes, we have got to remember that God is in control and that God is shaping you through the good and bad things you experience.

23:23-24 - Never forget - God is NOT some bearded old man sitting far off, looking over the world like a chess player with humanity as his pawns...He is here among us...He fills the entire universe...He is present...He is active...He is at work in this world.

24:5-9 - I find it interesting that the ones who face the "judgement/exile/captivity" are the ones that Jeremiah describes as the good fruit. The ones going through the toughest times are the ones that God is going to use to restore and rebuild His relationship with the Hebrew people. The ones left in their homeland (Who probably thought they were pretty "lucky") are the ones who will face destruction...they were the ones who were the most corrupt. God often uses hard times to forge His people - those left totally alone may have a lot more to worry about in the end.

Jeremiah Chapters 19-21

19:5 - I have never thought about this before today, but this verse seems to imply that God cannot even fathom evil...even God is shocked by the vile creativity of the fallen. Human beings have taken the creative powers that God granted them when He made them in His image and twisted them into the ability to create evil. Don't forget that the sick and twisted things in this world are not the creations of God...they are the foul fruits of men.

19:9 - God knows that when he allows His people to come under siege that their selfish sinfulness will show through...even when facing off against the consequences that their disgusting actions have brought upon them, the people will exhibit self-serving behavior beyond imagination - they will begin to devour one another.

19:10-11 - Jeremiah uses a powerful object illustration. He buys a piece of pottery, brings the Jewish leaders outside with him and smashed it to smithereens on the ground. Imagine the shock as they see the prophet of God hurl the pottery to the ground in front of them without a word. I imagine that he then looks them each in the eye and says you and the rest of the people of God will be shattered like this pot for from transgressions...you will be beyond repair. Fortunately the things that are beyond repair for men are well within the redeeming powers of God, and eventually God will rebuild His people.

20:2 - Where did we ever get the idea that God wants us to be happy? Where did Christians ever come up with the false theology that if they believe in God life will go smoothly and they will be successful? I don't really see that in scripture. God doesn't want us to be blindly happy...He wants us to find joy in faithfulness and hope in trusting Him. Every time I read scripture about people who are absolutely committed to the way of God, their lives are generally harder from a worldly standpoint. Jeremiah is one of the least "successful" ministers of all time, yet he is also one of the most faithful. What do you think that means?

20:9 - If we allow the word of God to sink into our hearts and minds, it is like a fire burning within us that cannot be contained. It is a fire that burns through us and cleanses us...it destroys the lies and selfishness within us. In Luke chapter 24, two disciples of Jesus are unable to see him because of their confusion and sorrow at his death on the cross. When Jesus tells them how the scriptures prophesied that the Messiah would have to suffer and die, it says that they began to feel the truth from the Word burning within them. Their fears and sorrow were burned away and they were able to see that the man speaking to them was Jesus. The Word is powerful and active in our lives if we allow it to be.

20:13 - Jeremiah goes back and forth between complaining to God about the treatment that he is receiving from his fellow Hebrews and praising God. Even in difficult times, he finds a way to praise God. I see this as a sign of true faith. Am I able to praise God in times of trouble?

20:18 - Just because he trusts in God and remains faithful does not make his difficult task any easy...he still has questions and doubts...that doesn't negate his belief.

21:2 - The leaders of Israel come to Jeremiah hoping for a positive sign (Pretty funny after they have been mocking and beating him for the things he has to say)...they hope that God will deal with them according to the goodness of God (Which is REALLY good!), but instead God deals with them according to their own corruption (Which is not good for them). Fortunately for us, in Jesus, God dealt with every human that has ever existed according to His own goodness granting us salvation that would have been impossible on our own merits.

21:14 - God punishes according to the fruit of their lives - the outcomes of their actions...in the agricultural imagery used by Jeremiah, all the fruit that is rotten will be burned up by the wrath and judgment of God to make way for new plants with good fruit. When we were in the redwood forests north of San Francisco, we were told that natural fires are good for forest ecosystems, because they allow the nutrients to be replenished in the soil so that the plants grow back even stronger after the blaze. This reminds me of 2 Peter chapter three where the judgment of the Lord is described as coming in fire in the end. Yet it also says that the earth will be remade and all the works of the earth will be revealed...the good will remain and the evil will be burned away. Live everyday to bring righteousness to the world because it is lasting...the evil deeds of man are simply fuel for the fires of judgment.

Jeremiah Chapters 16-18

16:11-13 - Most of chapter 16 sounds pretty brutal and cruel, with no hope on the horizon. These are the kind of passages that non-Christians like to bring up to discredit that God is a "God of love." Yet we find out as we keep reading why the wrath of God is burning so hot - the people have rejected their creator...their king...their God. The chosen people of God who are supposed to be a light to the world leading all people to Him, have instead chosen to emit more vile, sinful, evil into the world and that cannot stand. God in His infinite goodness cannot allow evil to go unchecked in the world, especially int he lives of those who know better!

16:15 - And as always, in the midst of judgment there is a future hope. God's motivation for fighting back against evil and for punishing His people is always love. He promises that just as He brought His people out of Egypt, He will again bring them out of the enslavement they will soon find themselves in. God always brings redemption out of suffering. Jesus himself cried out to God - "Why have you forsaken me?" God allowed Jesus to be punished for the sins of the world so that Jesus could be glorified in the resurrection and so that we could be redeemed. God allows His people to experience the consequences of their actions with the end goal of bringing the people back to Him.

16:18 - Hypocrisy and unrighteousness are serious business for God, especially when it comes from the lives of people who cal themselves God-fearers. Because when believers live anti-God lives, the image of God and name of God that is reflect in their belief claims in ruined. What we really need is less people calling themselves Christians and more people living as Christ in this world.

17:5 - How much do you and I need to learn this truth? How much does every human being that walks the face of this earth need to understand this fact? When you place you trust in flesh: human strength, human wisdom, human accomplishment, etc...you become cursed by being totally dependent on a source of strength that actually has no real power. Oh the frailty of man!

17:7ff - Yet on the other hand, if we truly put our trust in God and stand firm in the faith, there is no season of life - good or bad - in which we cannot bear good fruit.

17:9-10 - The human heart is deceptive...the human nature is selfish and twisted...why do we so often give in to the evil desires of our hearts? This reminds me of the struggle that Paul describes in Romans chapter 7 - he says, "I keep on doing what I do not want to do because of the sinful human nature that is within me!" Don't we all? It makes no sense that we continually seek out the things that are going to destroy us and have destroyed us and many others before us in the past! It is so frustrating. But God can see inside the hearts and the mind of all people...and through the redemptive work of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit we are offered a chance to be transformed by the renewing of our minds...a step by step process where we join in with God and make out thoughts obedient to Jesus Christ! Thank you God for saving us from ourselves.

17:27 - The Sabbath is vitally important because it is a show of respect for and dependence on God. It is the very lack of dependence the Israelites had that led them to worship false idols (The same goes for us too). They believed they no longer needed God because they had other pagans gods to worship...we sometimes allow ourselves to believe we don't really "need" God because of a steady job, food in the pantry, great success, etc. The people are warned that if nothing changes in their attitude towards depending n God that there will be consequences...and the same goes for us once again.

18:7-8 - God is the creator...He is the potter. As the potter, He has every right to destroy and remake His creation when it is flawed and corrupt. He breaks the wet clay down - destroys it - and reshapes it to fit the mold that He originally intended...and when that happens the reshaping will end and the pot will be able to be hardened by the dire of the Spirit and used as it was always meant to be used.

18:11 - Again, the purpose of the remaking/discipline/the disaster that is soon to be upon them, is to bring the people back around to right living with God.

18:23 - Jeremiah's anger boils over...the people of God attack him from all sides because he is speaking the words of God. It is shocking and vile and Jeremiah demands justice. I am glad that God is the one who is going to be determining the justice in the end, because human beings would totally screw it up. Notice at the end of Jeremiah's speech there is no future hope of redemption or plan to bring these people back to him...he is just vengeful. God's anger is always focused on bringing His people back in the end...I'm glad He is the one in charge!

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.

Jeremiah Chapters 10-12

10:2 - Again and again God has warned His people that they are not supposed to get caught up in the things that the world gets caught up in. They are not to buy in to the worldview of the pagan people round them and worry about what people who deny God worry about. These warning still stand for us today. Whenever you see people who allow their political, cultural, selfish leanings shape their faith - you see a distorted, twisted and non-Christian brand of Christianity. That does not bode well for life.

10:6-10 - In a stark contrast to the idols described in the verses that come before (v. 3-5), Jeremiah points out the amazing and unchanging nature of God. The other idols are lifeless...they are dead (trees cut down and carved into "gods")...they are unable to move...they are false. Our God is a living God...our God is an everlasting God - which one will you worship? Will you choose to worship money...meaningless material possessions...the adoration of others - these things are not worthy of your worship. You are a worshipper, created by the one and only God to worship Him...don't waste your precious time and worship on anything else.

11:8 - Over and over God gives His people warnings...He calls His people back to Him, but instead of listening to their creator, they choose to listen to the selfishness and evil within them. This is another form of idolatry, it is called self-worship. How well does that usually work out for us? We should each know exactly how screwed up and unworthy of worship we are personally!

11:14 - This reminds me of a Francis Chan teaching I heard a couple of weeks back. He said a man was leaving his wife and kids, and he wanted Francis to pray that he would be able to have a great new start on his new life (If you know anything about Francis Chan...he is probably the last person you would ever want to make this kind of request to). Francis told him to his face that there was no way he would pray a prayer like that. He told him it would be wasting his prayer because the man had chosen to reject everything that he knew was right from God and serve himself. Maybe the reason that we sometimes don't hear from God is that we have unresolved sin and rebellion in our hearts.

12:1 - Jeremiah puts a question before God that has been echoed by people since the beginning of sin. Why does it seem like the evil people in the world prosper? The interesting part about this passage is that God doesn't even really answer his question (It reminds me a lot of the way Jesus answered questions in the NT, which makes sense, since Jesus is God!)...God says back to him in verse 5 - it's really only gonna get worse from here, so you better get ready to keep pushing through. Wow - thanks for the comforting words God. When you look at the words of Jesus in the New Testament, there are no promises that life is gonna get easier when you follow him. In fact, he says that following him is actually gonna make life harder - "people will hate you because of me." Sometimes it seems that the evil people of the world are more successful here because they are taking the easy road...they are living for the here and now, serving themselves, and short-sighted. The only way that believers can deal with the brutality and fallenness of this world is by understanding that there is a deeper reality at play. The evil who find success in their rejection of God's way and the destruction of others, will find that they are lining up a great deal of destruction for themselves when the end comes. God's justice may not always be met out in this life, but it will be met out.

12:8 - God is still answering Jeremiah back when he says that the people of His inheritance have disgraced Him...He even says that He "hates" them, which is one of those verses that makes Christians very squirmy. God hates people?! I thought God was love? Well, in the Hebrew train of thought, hate is not the opposite of love. Do you know what the opposite of love is? It is indifference. When you don't love someone, you are indifferent to what they do and how their lives turn out. God, out of His unfailing love for His people, hates the evil within His people and willing to act to do something about it. That is love.

12:16 - I have lost count of them by now, but this is another verse in the Old Testament that references God's salvation plan for the entire world. Christians need to put an end to the thought that the God of the Old Testament is mean and angry and the God of the New Testament is Jesus. God, as Jeremiah told us, is everlasting. He is unchanging. The same God has existed for all time. He has always had a salvation plan for all the people of the world...He just chose to use a specific people-group (The Jews) to bring that plan to fruition.

Jeremiah Chapter 7-9

7:5-7 - One of the most important aspects of worshipping God is often forgotten: we must live lives of worship all the time. You can't just show up to praise God at church after a week of living totally for yourself and expect to experience anything authentic. Jeremiah tells us that the most important part of worshipping God comes in the form of serving others, loving the unlovable, fighting injustice,helping those in need. We must remember that if our heart condition in everyday life is terrible, our praise of God will be meaningless.

7:11 - This is much like the quote Jesus makes in the temple courtyard when he starts driving out the merchants and money-changes who are charging exorbitant prices to Jewish pilgrims coming t worship. We make mockery of churches services and praise times when we enter into them with selfish motives. Are we only attending church for what "we get out of it"? Do we get upset when we don't sing the songs that are our favorites? We should be reveling in the fact that we get to gather together with fellow believers and cry out to our God as a community. It is not about us...it has always been a bout Him.

7:27 - Heartbreaking. Jeremiah is told by God that his ministry is going to be fruitless. Yet even in the face of such harsh truth, Jeremiah continues to serve God and teach boldly. He serves as an excellent example for me to keep pushing forward even when it doesn't seem like nothing ever changes in the lives of teenage Christians (It doesn't always feel that way, but some days...ugh). I have not been called to success, I have been called to honor God with my life and invite students to join me as I chase after Jesus.

7:31 - This may help to explain to you why God is so angry with His people! Sacrificing their children to fire!? I have to say, there are two options here from the commentaries I have read in the past: they may have simply passed their children quickly through fire or over fire in a pagan cleansing ritual, or they may have literally been putting their children on burning altars as sacrifices to false gods. Either way this is sinful and rebellious, but slaughtering your children (Themselves holy gifts from God and signs that He allows us to participate in creation with Him!) would explain alot about the punishment that God pours out on His people. He is just, and He cannot stand by and allow this to go on unchecked! We should feel the same way that God does about the atrocities going on in this world.

8:7 - This was pretty shocking and painful to me - animals instinctively know how to live as they were created to live. They know how to survive...they know how to function as God made them to function. The freedom that God offers us is beautiful...it is a sign that He loves us so much that He does not want to force us to love Him back - He makes it our choice. This is one of the many things that sets us apart from the animals. Yet the dangerous side of freedom of choice is that human beings can choose to deny their instinct to connect with their Creator God (That I believe exists in every one of us) to chase after other, meaningless, things.

8:21 - Jeremiah is grieving because f the broken relationship between the daughter of Zion (Israel) and the Lord. Have you ever seen a family torn apart by childhood rebellion? It is a painful thing to watch! When a child rejects their parents and makes destructive choices, they endanger their lives and wound their parents. When the parents out of their love for the child choose to punish them in hopes that they will get the message and change their ways - the child is wounded. This is what is going on with God and His people and it is hard for Jeremiah to watch. He knows that God must punish them, bu that doesn't change the hurt involved.

9:7 - Tough love - it is all that God has left at this point. He tried to calling His people to Him, He tried making a covenant with them, he tried to draw them to Him through blessings, land, worship, but they still rejected Him. Now He has to allow His children to go through punishment in the hope that they will return to Him.

9:23-24 - The only legitimate thing that any of us have to boast about in this world is the fact that God is unconditionally in love with us and that we have come to an understanding of that love and have given our lives to Him. Who cares how much money you make? How athletic you are? How beautiful or handsome you are? Who cares hoe successful your kids are at the things they try? All that is meaningless in comparison to finally coming to a knowledge of God that drives you to love like H loves and seek righteousness and justice in the world. Boast in the goodness of God, not the frailty of man!

9:24 - How on earth can God be describes as full of "Steadfast love" after reading the chapters we read today? Three full chapters of threats and promised destruction - that doesn't sound like love. But if you look closely you know it is spoken out of love...everything God is allowing to happen to His people is part of His plan to bring them back to Him. He never gives up on His people - NEVER! That is love.

9:25 - This is a really good reminder for us: physical works and religious practices mean nothing compared to the condition of your heart. You can't attend enough church services, small groups, retreats, service projects, etc. to make yourself right with God. What matters is the circumcision of the heart...humility before God...allowing ourselves to be transformed by His truth.

Jeremiah Chapters 4-6

4:2 - If we try every day to reflect the character of God into the world - truth, justice, righteousness - people will literally see God through our lives and the world will be blessed. God will be honored. So we must understand that we strive to live righteously, not to save ourselves - we can't do that...we can't earn forgiveness...it is freely given. We live righteously because of the love that God has poured out on us...we want to worship Him and bring God the glory in this world.

4:18 - The people of Jerusalem are living through the consequences of their choices and actions. God is allowing them to experience the pain and the suffering that their choices bring so that they might return to Him. That is always the motivation of God's judgment...to bring redemption...to bring the people back to Him.

4:22 - Unfortunately, I feel like this sometimes...like I am better at being "evil" - better at being selfish. There are times when I feel like the struggle is for me to do right and the wrong just comes more easily. Tim Davis sent me an e-mail with this story in it recently: One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. "One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego."The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, honesty, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." I think the struggle for righteous or unrighteous living is won by whichever nature within me I am feeding.

5:3 - God brings punishment to provide a path for redemption and repentance, but unfortunately some refuse to accept it. Some people are so hard-headed that they continue in their sinfulness despite the consequences. You can only hope they get the message before they have to be brought to rock-bottom.

5:19 - The people invited the invasion of foreign armies upon themselves - they chose to reject God and worship foreign "gods" in the land that God had given them and Jeremiah tells them that they will becomes slaves to in those foreign lands they so want to be like. When we invite evil into our life, thinking we have the freedom to choose whatever we want, that evil has a way of becoming our master and destroying any freedom we had.

5:30-31 - "Appalling/Horrible" - these are the words used by Jeremiah to describe an environment where religious leaders are focused on what THEY want instead of focusing on what God wants. As a church leader myself, I must be very careful to try to remove my own motives from the leadership equation. I need to be asking, "What is God's plan for my ministry?"

6:19 - The only thing that comes from rejecting the Word of God is disaster. When we reject God we welcome hell into the earth and into our lives.

6:20 - Very important point here: it isn't the sacrifices themselves that God wants. What does He care about incense or animal blood? God wants His people to live is a state of worship...He wants His people to be humble before their God...He wants His people to glorify His name by living righteous lives in the world.

Jeremiah Chapters 1-3

1:5 - God's call on the life of Jeremiah highlights God's foreknowledge of everyone. How incredible is it to understand that the God who created everything knows you personally? He has always known you. And just like with Jeremiah - God has a plan for you...a mission for you to live out in this world. Th question is: will you, like Jeremiah, answer the call?

1:7/8 - This is a great verse for Christians of any age, but I think it could really give confidence to young believers. Your usefulness to God is not based on how old you are, or how long you have been a Christian, or whether or not you have all the answers...all that matters is that you choose to trust God and live to serve Him. He will give you what you need to be His missionaries in this world...all you need to do is live by faith.

1:18/19 - Do you understand what these verses are saying to us? God is telling Jeremiah that his ministry will never be successful. He is telling Jeremiah that he will be a prophet who is rejected and ignored...how depressing is that? Sometimes God calls us to difficult tasks - Jeremiah is called to live a counter-cultural life, and he will never see the fruit of the seeds that he plants. Do you and I have the faith to live counter-culturally, even if we never see the results of our faithfulness? Can we have an eternal view and trust that God will use our lives to the benefit of His kingdom even if we can't see it?

2:5 - God, through Jeremiah, is questioning His people - what have you found wrong in me? Why have you turned away from me? Was my love to perfect? Was the freedom and hope that I offered too fulfilling? God is brokenhearted that His people seek to find their value in the worthless things of the world, when He is offering meaning and love on an immeasurable scale. Why do you think we do it? Why do we turn from God to things that we know will eventually leave us empty?

2:11 - God is shocked to see that the pagan nations around Israel who worship non-existent gods have more faith than His people. All around the world, there were people who created their own gods of wood and stone, who would not forsake their gods no matter what. And Israel, the only nation connected to the one and only true God - they keep turning away from Him!

2:13 - When believers, who have been plugged into the Truth, turn away from God - they reject life-giving reality for the broken systems and gods of this world who offer them nothing but temporary pleasure. Everything this world has to offer will leave us thirsting for more...no matter how much we drink, we will never be quenched. Drink deep the living water...drink deep the presence of God.

2:22 - We cannot save ourselves. No matter how good we are - no matter how hard we try - we cannot save ourselves. (Romans 3:12) There is no one good, not even one. We are in desperate need of saving and fortunately we have a God who offered Himself as a merciful Savior.

3:6-10 - This passage describes how God's people continually turn from Him and offer themselves to pagan rituals and false gods. The two nations of God's people, Israel and Judah, actually lead each other astray and encourage one another in their debauchery. They see the sins of the other and allow that to give them licence to sin themselves. It is easy to look back at these Old Testament passages with judgement and question how they could ever allow themselves to fall so far, but I wonder if we as Christians today do the same thing. We may not be running off into the hills to participate in pagan cult orgies, but we buy into the false gods of this culture don't we? Do we give ourselves licence to prostitute ourselves to the ways of the world? Do we fail to live out the way of Jesus because it is too "radical" or too "weird" or because none of the other Christians we know live like that? Do we sit idly aside as we watch generation after generation of our children offered up as sacrifices to the belief systems of our culture? Competition. Success. Achievement. Wealth. Power. Sex. Money. Self.

3:12 - Always, God offers a way for His people to return to Him. Always, God offers forgiveness and mercy after discipline. He is so much more compassionate than I believe I would be in the face of adultery.

3:17 - In book after book of the Old Testament, we see that God's plan has always been for the whole world to come to know Him. His people exist to guide the nations of the world to Him. This is still our mission today...believers should see every day as a mission to show people the way to God through their faith lived out.

3:22/23 - God offers a free return to those who have rejected Him...God offers hope. The temptations of this world are vast and attractive, but they are all a delusion. The things of this world offer us nothing in the end, but emptiness and guilt. Does money offer us eternal worth? Sex? These things offer only momentary distractions from the serious issue...the sense of disconnectedness within us. We were made to be connected to our creator God and our salvation...our purpose...our meaning can only be found in Him.