After a couple of months in Jeremiah, I still say Jeremiah is one of my favorite books. I know. Some people can’t get past the “weeping” Jeremiah part to see more than that. But for me? This book has so much richness.
- One weeps deeply when they love deeply. Jeremiah wept. So did God I believe for that matter. It was a terrible thing that was happening and Jeremiah wanted nothing more than for his people to listen, hear and turn. Mercy was still available. But they would not.
- Sin can get us to a place where we don’t listen. It’s not something to toy with. Sin hardens our hearts to the point even when God says there will be terrible judgment, we don’t listen to it. This is what happened with God’s people.
- Obedience mattered, even in the face of death. God made it clear to Jeremiah in the beginning. Chapter 1 even. That if Jeremiah gave in to fear they would harm him. But if he put his fear of God greater than his fear of the people, the Lord would preserve him. And so he did. Jeremiah stood firm and spoke boldly even when his life was in danger. Unfortunately the other prophet Uriah did not. He ran when it became deadly and because of it, he was hunted down and killed. Obedience matters.
- I admire Jeremiah’s boldness. It didn’t waiver when he was in the pit about to die or before the king. He spoke what God told him to spoke.
- The ministry of Baruch touches me. Having been an assistant myself to a world leader, there are many things that assistants go through. Baruch too faced the things that Jeremiah faced. He too could have been killed. He too had to go into hiding with Jeremiah. But he was a faithful assistant and scribe to Jeremiah. The Lord honored him as well.
- The people who stood for righteousness were honored. One man went to the king to plead for Jeremiah’s life. He could have been sentenced to join Jeremiah. It was risky business. But he did anyway. And because of it the LORD preserved his life as well.
- There were men of honor in the midst. They longed to know the ways of God and when their countrymen and country’s leaders went askance, they put the kingdom of God above all. Men like these take my breath away.
- ”Again and again” is a refrain we see like 11x in Scripture. It says God “again and again” warned the people. His warnings were voluminous. They just didn’t listen.
- We see in Scripture that God so did not want to bring judgment. He tried everything to get the people to turn from their wicked ways so that he wouldn’t have to bring judgment. But God did not force them. He is a God of freedom, not control. He honors free will. But that didn’t meant there wasn’t punishment. He is a good God who disciplined them not for their destruction, but for their redemption.
In summation reading Jeremiah over and over felt like I was reading today’s newspapers and social media. People had hardened their hearts to common sense and the deceitfulness of sin. The would not listen to truth. There were plenty of warnings but normalcy bias clouded their minds. In the end the Israelites would find out the hard way.
If that’s the case for Israel, how much for the Gentile nations? Will not God have to act also? I think he is and I think we are seeing the foundations crumble underneath us. We haven’t crashed yet. But we are in a slow-motion crash that when it reaches the bottom will be devastating. I think we are entering into times so evil that the Hi(*&*(&tler generation will look novices.
At the same time there is hope. I do believe that God may just pour out his Spirit in such a way that we see revival like the world has never seen. Sometimes terrible times and revival go hand in hand. My guess is that this will be our lot.
Mercy though is still available. I do believe we can cry out for mercy and God will relent. But I also think we’ve been so hardened by sin that we aren’t even willing to call it as such. That and everybody is too busy blaming the other political party or blaming a political leader or blaming a nation to see anything else.
So now it’s the end of the year. It’s fitting in some ways that the year ends and a new one starts with Lamentations. Nobody wants lament and grief and mourning but there’s a place for it. In this Scripture study, there is a place for lament as Judah and Jerusalem had to learn the hard way that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do.
In the same there is a place for lament for where we are it in the world. Evil is abounding in the nations of the world and instead of repentance and contrition, there is only blame or blindness. It won’t lead to pretty things. A darkness is moving over the face of the earth.
And then there’s the need for lament that we might turn. Not just so that we stay in grief, but that we grieve our current state, seek God’s mercy, and move forward. Lament is good…for a season. Then we pick up the pieces and move forward.
So we come to a close of a Bible book and another year. What will the days ahead hold? They are troubling but like Israel, we can know that for the people of God, He is still with us.
