August 7: Jeremiah 1-3

August 7, Jeremiah 1-3

Today we get to start reading what the Pastor & Prophet, Jeremiah, wrote about. Jeremiah started his writings when the good King from Judah, Josiah, was reigning. He saw a lot of hardship in his life, and that is what God had called him to. Many would not receive his prophetic messages, but that did not stop him from being obedient to God.

Israel & Judah both were covenant breakers with God. God’s goal is Restoration and Redemption through a new covenant.

Jeremiah 1 God’s Words came to Jeremiah while Josiah was King of Judah. It was also during Jehoiakim’s reign (Josiah’s disobedient son), all the way up until Judah goes into captivity. He obviously witnessed a lot.

God, in His Sovereignty, affirmed Jeremiah’s calling. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah’s calling was to proclaim to the nations repentance. God knew and appointed Jeremiah to do this long before he was even in his mothers womb. Jeremiah tried to argue with God that he couldn't speak good and that he was too young. God told him that it didn't matter his age - God was going before Him and would protect him from all of his adversaries - so he was not to fear them. Then God touched his mouth and literally put His own Words into Jeremiah’s mouth. Jeremiah was to speak God’s Words! God also wanted to see how in tune Jeremiah was with Him, and he was. God told Jeremiah that He would be bringing disaster upon Judah because their evil was so great and they were against God. God told Jeremiah to get ready and to stand firm in Him, because if Jeremiah doesn't - God will not be with him. Basically put - God was telling Jeremiah that his calling was not going to be an easy one. He will have many adversaries but God is on his side!

Jeremiah 2 God told Jeremiah to go and proclaim to Jerusalem that they have broken their covenant with God and they have lost their love for God. To Israel, Jeremiah was to remind them that their fathers obeyed and they have disobeyed. Their fathers followed God and trusted Him but they have defiled the land and become an abomination to Him. They falsely prophesied and were greedy. The people have committed multiple sins by abandoning God - they have brought the coming destruction upon themselves, they knew better! They are evil and their evil will actually end up rebuking themselves. They no longer feared the Lord. They can’t hide their sins anymore than we can - their (our) guilt is clearly before the Lord. 

Here is a question for you, same as Jeremiah had for Israel - What do you rely on? Do you rely on yourself or the gods that you have made? Fine, let your false gods save you! Oh that is right - they cannot.
Do not lie to God and think you can get away with it. This angers God and that is part of the reason that He is going to be bringing His judgement on them.  

Jeremiah 3 is where Jeremiah shows Judah as being an unfaithful wife to God, whoring after false gods. They had no shame of their sin, they were not ashamed of their sins! Israel led the way in sin and Judah followed right along instead of learning from her mistakes. God is calling faithless Israel to return to Him - basically the same message as today - confess your sins, repent and return to God!

We are to trust in God - not in our idols or man-made gods. Time is short - get to doing what you need to be doing!

To sum it all up: 

• Never let your inability determine God’s ability to accomplish His plans & purpose. 
• Do we expect God to bless us when we ignore or disobey Him? That is just silly. 
• Like Jeremiah, we may have many adversaries, but if God is on our side we are solid.
• God is continually calling us to the following:
• Repent of our sins
• Remember what He has done. 
• Return to Him so that He can 
• Redeem us!
• Our culture is similar in how we are not ashamed of our sins - we celebrate them. If God dealt with Israel & Judah with destruction, how much farther off are we from God’s anger?