Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 4-6.

I think it is important to remember that Jeremiah began prophesying while Josiah was king.  Josiah was one of the most faithful kings which Judah had, yet I believe Jeremiah made the prophesy we read today while Josiah still reigned.  He tells the people of Judah to put aside the detestable idols which they worshiped.  He called on them to only invoke the Lord in a just, truthful, and righteous way.  He tells us to break up our unplowed ground and circumcise our hearts.  When he tells us that last, he is referring to cutting away something unnecessary from the most vulnerable part of us so that it will no longer interfere with our service to God.  Jeremiah goes on to tell the people of Judah that if they do not do this a terrible time is coming, a time of disaster and destruction.  He speaks of the dishonesty of the people.  God tells Jeremiah to search Jerusalem for an honest person.  If he can find just one, God promised to forgive the people of their sins.  Jeremiah went to the common people and found them unwilling to repent of their sins.  So, he went to the leaders of the land and found that they too had rebelled against God and refused to deal honestly.  I do not think that Jeremiah meant for us to take the idea that there was not even one honest person in Jerusalem literally.  Rather, we are to understand that it only takes a few honest and faithful people among many to transform society.  Later in the passage Jeremiah tells us that God’s people did not seek justice, did not promote the case of the fatherless, nor defend the just cause of the poor.  Today, I look at our society and see terrible things coming because of the sins of our nation (and when I look around the world, I see the same thing in most of the nations of the world), but God is looking for just a few people to stand up for justice and honesty.  Will we who are called by His name answer His call?  Let us allow Him to use us to transform 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 4-6.

When reading today’s passage I think we should take note that the prophecy Jeremiah gives here took place between when King Josiah began his religious reforms and when he began to renovate the temple.  Which means that, at least in part, Jeremiah was addressing those taking part in King Josiah’s religious revival.  So, if we seek revival, and I hope that you join me in doing so, we need to pay close attention to Jeremiah’s message.  We must find the unplowed ground of our hearts, the places where we are resistant to allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us, and break it up.  We must circumcise our hearts to the Lord, accepting the pain of cutting out that which separates us from the Lord.  Otherwise, God’s anger will flare up against us because of the evil we have done.  We stand at a crossroads.  We must ask for  the ancient path, the good way, and follow it.  Just as in Jeremiah’s time, God is looking for people who deal honestly and seeks the truth.   Allow God’s Spirit to transform you into such a person, even if you are the only one.  In Jeremiah’s time, God was looking for just one person in all of Jerusalem.  If He had found that person, He would have forgiven the people of Jerusalem for their sins.  I don’t know how many God is looking for today, but I do not want destruction to come because He found one less than He was looking for, and I could have been that one.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 4-6.

I am going to write about two themes I read about in today’s passage, themes which I see applying to our society now.  On the one hand, the prophet calls on people to return to the Lord and give up detestable idols.  He calls for us to break up the unplowed ground of our hearts and plant a crop of righteousness so that nations and peoples throughout the world will invoke God and turn to Him.  On the other hand, he also tells us that instead of seeking God, everyone is greedy for gain and practice deceit.  As I read this I think of my friends who are quick to fall into “conspiracy theory” territory, blaming the ills of society on the deception and greed of the powerful, who work together to gain wealth and the expense of those without the connections to do likewise.  There is truth in what they say, but in many cases they are guilty of doing the same thing when they have the opportunity.  If you look around, everyone, from the least to the greatest, seeks to gain through fraud and deceit.  Those who should be calling people to account for their abuse of power, lie in order to favor their own interests, while those who should be calling people to serve God instead promote the behaviors which give them power and wealth.  Those who hold positions of authority apply bandaids where surgery is needed.  As a society we stand at a crossroad.  There are a few voices crying in the wilderness for us to follow the ancient path, tried and true, the path which has been shown to be a good way which leads to safety and rest.  But as a society we keep saying, “No, we don’t want to go that way. ”  And we do this despite the fact that anyone with eyes can see that the path we have chosen instead leads to disaster and those with ears can hear the disaster coming, because, as various Old Testament prophets prophesied, those with eyes do not perceive and those with ears do not listen.  Let us join with the prophet in pointing our friends and neighbors to the path which leads to righteousness, and let us walk that path, even if we must walk it alone.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 4-6.

Since I am going to be on vacation from July 31-August 9 I have already written my blog posts for these days and scheduled them to be posted.  However, I may not be able to post a link to them on FaceBook, Gab.com, or MeWe.com during every day (or any day) during this time period.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

God gave Jeremiah a prophecy of destruction.  The destruction which Jeremiah prophesied was coming because the people did not deal honestly or seek the truth.  Everyone, from the least to the greatest, sought after their own gain, with no concern for what that might cost others.  We see something similar today from the looters in our cities to the son of the President.  The people do not seek justice, they merely seek revenge upon their enemies.  Yet, in all of the negativity of Jeremiah’s prophecy there is a kernel of hope.  It does not take many turning to God, repenting of their sins and seeking to do right to turn aside God’s anger.  God told Jeremiah if he could just find one person in Jerusalem who sought the truth, one person who dealt honestly, He would forgive the city.  God is speaking a message of warning, but will any of us listen and change our ways?

When I first read this passage I really thought my blog entry would be longer than this.

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.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 4-6.

Years ago I heard a sermon preached around verse three of chapter four, “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts.”  I do not really remember what the preacher had to say, but I remember he emphasized, as Jeremiah does here, that we must give up our pride and power.  We must come before the Lord in humility.  His lesson applies even more today.  Look around at what is going on.  Our own actions have brought this on, we have failed to serve the Lord as we ought.  But even so, everyone is blaming someone else:
“They encouraged the rioters.” “They won’t wear masks.”  It is not someone else’s fault.  It is our fault.

We are standing with many roads ahead of us.  Jeremiah tells us that we should ask for the old, godly way and follow that path.  But how many people want to do that?  No, that way is “boring”, or, perhaps some of those who followed that path previously were flawed human beings.  We want to go a different way, a new way.  We can hear the sound of alarm from up ahead on those roads, but we do not turn back.  I like to believe that I am one of those sounding the alarms and heading for the old, godly path, but I fear I have allowed myself to be carried along with the crowd done the path to destruction.  I will pray to God that He shows me how I should go.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.  I am going to be on vacation through August 10th.  I have prepared my daily Bible Studies for each day throughout that time in advance since I will have limited access to the Internet during this time.  The timing on when I publish these blogs may be erratic during this time.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 4-6.

Reading Jeremiah frightens me, but it also gives me hope.  The fear comes because Jeremiah’s prophecies started when Josiah was king and things seemed to be getting better.  The hope comes from things like the start of today’s passage.  The people of Judah could have returned to God and avoided the coming disaster.  Even now, if the people would plow up the  hard ground of their hearts and turn to God, He would forgive them and welcome them home..

Still, my fear persists.  I see the signs of the coming storm which God will unleash on this land if its people continue to ignore His warnings.  I read what Jeremiah says about the lack of honest people and see similar things in our society.  People condemn their opponents for lying, then lie themselves when they perceive it as being to their advantage.  The poor do it, the rich do it.  Those without any power do it, those with great power do it.  And everyone in between.  God tells us to walk in the old, godly way, but no one today wants that road.    They call that way “intolerant”, refusing to see where they path they choose instead actually leads.  They want a “new” way and will not listen to anyone who tells them that the “new” way is not new.