The reading for day 54 was Jeremiah 1:1-10:25.
Jeremiah is told to give God's people a terrifying message. They are going to be destroyed. I'm glad that I am not Jeremiah. What a thankless task that was. I can't imagine living through the events described in these chapters and I hope that I never experience anything like them. That being said...there is always something we can learn from it without going through it ourselves...thankfully.
In the very first chapter of Jeremiah we see God emphasizing His sovereignty like He did in Isaiah. 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Wow...what a humbling, scary, comforting thing for God to say to him. How would you feel if you knew that, not only did God know you intimately before you were born, but also appointed you to a task that is bigger than you. You would probably feel the same way Jeremiah did.
1:6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I [am] a child.
God's people had turned away from Him to worship idols. We, at least most of the time, don't have physical idols anymore. We have traded our wood and stone idols for ourselves. We have become what we worship. 2:12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Because God's people turned away from Him and would not repent, He witheld rain. He affected the weather because of their sins. If global warming is for real...shouldn't we be on our hands and knees asking God for forgiveness instead of worrying about greenhouse gases? 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
God is so merciful to His people. Even in His holy anger, He still provides for their salvation. 3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou [art] the LORD our God. 3:23 Truly in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the hills, [and from] the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel.
Many times in scripture when God speaks of destroying evil, the oppresors of men are included. Those who steal from the poor, swindle the widows, and abuse slaves and orphans. God doesn't like them.
5:28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. 5:29 Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Wait...is He talking about the church?
5:30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
There is another if/then list in Jeremiah chapter 7 that is similar to that in Isaiah 58. It's not as long, but still just as important.
Read chapter 9 of Jeremiah, and as you read, try to picture the things that he is describing. Turn on that mental movie projector and see what happens.
Is this chapter going back and forth between Jeremiah and God speaking? Or is God the one who is weeping?
Maybe someone can tell me what this verse means
10:18 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find [it so].
The NASB says, "And will cause them distress, that they may be found." Anyone?
10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
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