Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 23-25.

Today’s passage begins with a condemnation of leaders who divide the people rather than unite them.  In particular Jeremiah speaks out against religious leaders who declare false visions and false prophecies.  He condemns those who speak their own ideas as if they are from God.  Jeremiah tells us that these false prophets and godless priests steal words from each other and claim they are from God.  As I read Jeremiah’s words about these divisive shepherds and lying religious leaders I am reminded of today.  Today, I see leaders who encourage the divisions between groups in order to further their own power rather than unite people for the good of everyone.  I see religious leaders who proclaim their own ideas as the words of God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 19-22.

In today’s passage Jeremiah says that God deceived him, other translations say that God persuaded him, to speak words proclaiming violence and destruction.  So whenever he speaks he is insulted and put down.  This led Jeremiah to try keeping quiet, but he found that he could not.  God’s word became a fire eating him up from the inside until it would burst forth once more.  Those who heard his words tried to use them against him, they tried to find something Jeremiah said which they could use to condemn him, but Jeremiah was careful to speak only the words which God had given him.  So, those who sought to persecute him failed and were brought low.  I want to point out that Jeremiah makes this proclamation the day after he had been put in the stocks and beaten.  We may find ourselves in the same position today.  When we speak the words which God gives us, there are many in our society today who will try to use the words we speak against us.  We must be careful to only speak the words which God has given us.  If we do so, He will stand with us and our persecutors will fall.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 16-18.

Jeremiah continues to prophesy that God’s judgement could not be avoided, that a time of sorrow and mourning was coming and that it was too late to forestall it.  The disaster is coming because those who came before us forsook God, rejected Him and worshiped other gods.  They worshiped power and wealth.  They chose not to keep the laws which God had given them.  And our generation has behaved even more wickedly than those who went before us.  For this reason, God will show us no favor.  Yet there is still a path forward for us.  Jeremiah tells us that those who trust in man will be cursed, but those who trust in the Lord will be blessed.  The former will be like a bush in the wastelands, dry and bitter.  The latter will be like a tree planted by the water, even during a drought it will bear fruit.  Jeremiah tells us to keep the Sabbath holy and things will go well for us and our land.  When Jeremiah says that he is referring more to keeping God’s will than to following specific rituals.  He refers to seeking justice and not oppressing the poor, to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and the prisoner.  Finally, Jeremiah gives a reason to hope and something for which to strive.  He tells us that God is like a potter, if the nation which God has declared will be destroyed because of its evil repents of its sin and turns to Him, He will turn that destruction aside and bring good things to it.  Let us pray that God pour out His Spirit upon the people of this land and turn them from their sins.

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.

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 10-12.

At the beginning of today’s passage Jeremiah tells God’s people not to learn the ways of the nations.  He describes how they make objects which they then worship.  These images cannot speak, they cannot walk.  They must be carried everywhere.  They were made by men out of materials they found on the earth.  So, they could not have made heaven and earth.  Yet, people turn to them for guidance and salvation, instead of turning to God, who DID make  heaven and earth.  Those who turn to something other than God and His commands is senseless.  All of this Jeremiah tells us at the beginning of today’s passage.  Then at the end of today’s passage, He tells of God’s promise to those who have chosen to be enemies of God’s people.  God promises that He will uproot those who taught His people to worship idols and led them into sin, but after a time He will have compassion on them.  Anyone who takes the time to learn the ways which God teaches and chooses to swear by His name will be welcomed among God’s people.  So, we should not learn the ways of the nations.  Rather, we should practice the ways of God so that the nations might learn those ways and join us in serving God.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

Jeremiah’s prophecy in today’s passage is directed at those who claim to worship and serve God while worshiping and serving idols.  God tells Jeremiah not to pray for such people because they fail to understand that it is not God they are offending with their actions, but rather they are harming themselves (and perhaps God was telling Jeremiah not to pray for them until they came to understand that).  We should keep this in mind while we consider our actions.  We do that which seems righteous to us, but do we worship other gods at the same time?  If we do, the appearance of righteousness we cultivate so carefully will do us no good.

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 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 1-3.

Today I begin reading the Book of Jeremiah for this year.  I love some of what we learn about God and His call for us from His call to Jeremiah.  First God tells Jeremiah:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew^[a] you,
    before you were born I set you apart;”
From this we learn that God formed Jeremiah in the womb, and that He formed each and every one of us the same way.  But there is more to it than that.  Even before He formed our bodies God knew us.  However, I want you to take note of that little superscript “a” there by the word “knew”.  That indicates that there was a translators’ note associated with it.  The translators’ note says that the word “knew” could also be translated as “chose”.  So, even before we began to be formed in our mother’s womb, God knew us and chose us for His purpose in this world.  We have been set apart to serve God.  God goes on to tell Jeremiah that He has put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth.  If we allow Him, He will do the same with us.  As a final part of God’s calling of Jeremiah, He tells him get himself ready to stand up and tell the people what God will command him to say.  God made Jeremiah an iron pillar to stand up against the movers and shakers of his time, and against the people themselves.  Jeremiah did not need to be afraid even though both the powerful people and the mob of common people would fight against him, because God would be with him.  In the same way God is calling on us today to stand up and say the words which He puts in our mouths.  We need not be afraid because God will be with us and He will rescue us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 51-52.

At the height of Babylon’s power, Jeremiah prophesied that it would fall and be completely destroyed, never to rise to power again.   Jeremiah told the world that for all of Babylon’s power it could not escape the Lord’s judgement against it.  There were those who would believe that the fall of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the temple there, meant that the gods of Babylon were more powerful than God.  God gave Jeremiah the prophecy about the fall of Babylon before the fall of Jerusalem in order to provide evidence for those who worshiped Him that Babylon’s gods were not more powerful than He was.   We live in a time when people believe that God is no longer relevant, but this is not true.  The God who told us of Babylon’s fall before it reached the height of its power continues to work in the world today.  History follows the course which He has laid out for it.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 49-50.

I mentioned yesterday that it is unclear when Jeremiah made the prophecies against the nations surrounding Judah.  These are relevant today because today’s passage contains more “undated” prophecies (that is, we do not know when during Jeremiah’s career he made these prophecies).  In today’s passage these other nations all thought that they had not suffered the fate of Israel because their gods were able to protect them.  Yet God gave Jeremiah a prophecy predicting that they would suffer the fate which they thought their gods had protected them from.  Even Babylon, through whom God brought punishment upon Jerusalem for its people’s sins, would face God’s judgement.  At the same time, God would provide relief to His people.  In the same way today, God will bring judgement upon the nations which oppose His will, while rescuing those who faithfully repent of their sins and turn their faces towards Him.

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