Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 13-15.

In some ways the prophecies with which today’s passage begins are deeply depressing.  In them Jeremiah prophesies that terrible times are coming upon Judah and its people and it is too late for them to avoid them.  God tells Jeremiah, and others who still faithfully served God, to no longer pray for the wellbeing of the people of Judah.  God would not listen to such prayers and even if the people themselves would fast and pray He would not change His judgement, not even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Him and ask Him to do so.  In years past I was convinced that our society today had not yet reached the point where these prophecies applied to us.  I am no longer sure that such is the case.  However, the passage ends with words of hope.  There God tells us through Jeremiah that if we repent, He will restore us.  We must not speak worthless words, the words which those around us wish to hear, but we must be God’s spokespeople and speak words of worth.  We must strive to get people to turn to us, but we must never turn from God to them.  Let us strive to influence the people around us without being influenced by them.  If we allow God to make us a wall to those who sin against Him, He will save us from the hands of the wicked.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 13-15.

I struggle with today’s passage.  For most of this passage, Jeremiah prophesies destruction upon the people for their sins.  He reports that God has told him not to pray for the people because He (God) is going to destroy them with famine, plague, and the sword.  Jeremiah defended the people by saying that the prophets were telling them that they would not see the sword or suffer famine.  God responded that those prophets were lying because He (God) had not sent them.  Further God told Jeremiah that those prophets would perish by famine and the sword, as would the people who listened to them.  The point here being that we should be very careful about listening to people who claim to speak on behalf of God, especially when they tell us that our sins will not lead to our destruction.  Then God tells Jeremiah that even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Him, He would not relent on the suffering and destruction which was coming to this people.  I believe we are fast approaching a time, if we are not already there, when Jeremiah’s prophecy here will apply to our society today.

So far, the passage is clear, if very scary; people have been so sinful for so long that the suffering which God warned would result from such sinfulness cannot be turned aside.  However, after having told Jeremiah that such is the case, God tells him

If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;

Which tells us that Jeremiah, at least, can avoid the coming suffering (avoid is probably not quite the right word, but I am going to go with it for today).  I believe that God’s message here was not just for Jeremiah, but for anyone who would listen to it, but God knew that few would actually do so.  And that is where we stand today, our society is going headlong  down the road towards suffering and destruction and time to turn aside is running out, if it has not already run out.  However, God will use and protect those who repent and speak worthwhile words, instead of the worthless words so many today speak.  If we wish to serve God, we must speak His words so that people are drawn towards us (insomuch as that draws them to God), but we must be careful not to be drawn towards the sins of our society.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 13-15.

This is a troubling passage.  In it Jeremiah prophesies that God told him not to pray for the people of Judah.  Yet, I firmly believe that we should always pray for those around us.  This led me to read, and re-read, this passage, seeking understanding.  Before mentioning that God had told him not to pray for these people, Jeremiah warned them to listen and give glory to God.  If they would not turn to God and renounce their sins and their idols, God would bring destruction upon them.  Then, after making that prophecy, Jeremiah gave a prophecy concerning a drought in the land.  It was in the context of that drought that God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people and then I understood the message.  God had sent the drought to cause the people to turn to Him for salvation.  God told Jeremiah not to pray for Him to relieve the people from the drought because they had worse problems than those caused by a lack of water.  So, I learn from this that I should not pray that sinners, even those most dear to me, be relieved of the suffering which comes from their sin, at least not as my primary prayer.  No, my first, most heartfelt prayer should be that they turn from their sin before they suffer even worse.

Throughout today’s passage Jeremiah records God promising to destroy the people of Jerusalem, to destroy the people to whom Jeremiah was prophesying.  All in all, it seems very depressing because Jeremiah seems to be saying that it is too late for the people of Jerusalem to escape God’s wrath.  Yet, also throughout the passage are little statements which suggest otherwise: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve Me.”  Let us stand firm in our loyalty to God, so that if the sinners we know turn to us they will be turning to God.  But under no circumstances should we allow them to influence us so that we turn to them, and thus away from God.  If we pray that people be relieved of their suffering, God may hear our prayers and they will not turn from their sins, leading them into even greater suffering.  On the other hand, if we call for people to turn from their sins, and pray to God that they do so, perhaps they will turn from their sins, and be relieved of their suffering.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 13-15.

I have just returned from vacation and am attempting to get back into my normal routine.

During the time of Jeremiah the people of Judah had reached the point where God declared that He would no longer listen to prayers requesting Him to relieve the suffering of the people of Judah in general.  In many ways, Jeremiah’s prophecies are scary and depressing, because they seem to offer no hope.  Reading these prophecies leads me to wander if our society has reached a similar point.  However, scattered through these prophecies one finds little gems of hope. Jeremiah tells us that our focus should be on our own behavior, and on calling individuals to follow God’s commands, not on changing society.  God told Jeremiah, and us, to pay attention to the words He has spoken to us and not be arrogant.

Just as in Jeremiah’s time, our society is full of prophets telling the people lies in God’s name, things which God has never said.  They tell us things like, “If it feels good, it can’t be wrong.”  But that is not God’s message.  God calls us to repent, if we do He will restore us so that we can serve Him.  He calls us to utter worthy words, if we do He will make us His spokesperson.  Let us stand so that people can turn to us, and therefore to God, but we must not allow our desire to reach them cause us to turn to their ways.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.  I just got back from a ten day vacation and prepared this before I left.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 13-15.

God told Jeremiah to stop praying for the people of Judah, that they were too far gone in their sin to return to God before they suffered His judgement.  Yet, Jeremiah still cried out for them and prayed to God.  He did so because their prophets were telling them that they were doing nothing wrong, that if they continued to follow the path which they were following God would send them peace.  Today we often see the same thing, false teachers proclaiming that God will send peace and prosperity to those who are sinning.  There are two types of such prophets: those who preach “prosperity gospel” and those who preach acceptance of self-destructive behavior.  The former teach that God will grant us material wealth.  The latter teach that we can do whatever we like as long as we are “loving”.  Neither group preaches God’s actual word.  Some know they are lying and some of them failed to heed what God told Jeremiah later on in this passage.

Jeremiah complains to God about the persecution he is suffering and begs God for deliverance.  God promises Jeremiah that He will indeed keep him safe.  God told Jeremiah to speak God’s good words rather than worthless ones of those around him.  In like manner we should seek to influence those who do not worship God (yet), but not allow them to influence us.  As Paul says in Romans 12, let us not copy the behaviors of this world but let us be transformed by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of God.