Alright, I give full credit to Cassie. She inspired me to get into the book of Jeremiah. So far I’m only up through ch. 6, but oh man has it been good! I wanted to touch on a few things that have stood out to me through the chapters I’ve read.
Ch. 1:4-8: “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’ ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young”. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.”
This is a huge reminder to me, that God uses young people to do great things. Age is irrelevant; if God has given you an assignment, it is your duty to fulfill it. He is with us – there is no reason to be afraid! Our age is totally beside the point. We cannot use that as an excuse to ignore what God wants us to do.
V.17-19: ‘Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land – against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.
I find this very interesting. God tells him to prepare, to get ready, to stand up and say to them what he has been commanded to say. But he ends by telling him that they will fight against him, but will not overcome him, for he will be rescued. Can you imagine what that would have been like, if you knew the outcome, if you knew what was to happen? I know that if I knew that I would not be overcome, I certainly wouldn’t go to all that effort! But he had to anyway, even though he knew he would not be overcome. He still had to get ready, to stand and speak.
Ch. 2:20: ‘Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, “I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute. I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?’
Kind of as a background for what was happening, Jerusalem has rejected God and has instead turned to adultery and worshiping false gods. What I find sadly intriguing, however, is our similarity to Jerusalem’s generation. This is our generation! How many times have we broke off Christ’s yoke, tore off our bonds, and said that we will not serve Him? And does it not pain us to realize this? He had planted us “like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock.” How then did we turn against Him into a corrupt, wild vine? Our generation has done this! We have rejected Christ, torn off our bonds, and said in our actions, beliefs, mindsets, attitudes, and hearts that we will not serve Him. With so much care, He creates us, has a prosperous plan for our future, and we spin around to reject Him. This is our generation!
Ch. 4:1-2: “If you, Israel, will return, then return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable I dols out of my sight and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by him and in him they will boast.”
If our generation will return at all, we must return to Him. He wants to rain His blessings on us, but how can He when we have rejected Him and turned from Him? We do not give Him that chance; we are unfaithful to Him.
18: “Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”
Ouch! Ouch! So true! We have to pay the consequences for our own actions, no matter how hard it hurts. We bring it upon ourselves! We have to endure the punishment, not because it is unjust or unfair, but because we have done it to ourselves with every choice we made, every step we took in the wrong direction. We have no one to blame for the punishment but ourselves.
Ch. 5:3: Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
V.5-6: …But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.
This is our generation! He disciplines us, but we are so stubborn, so stupid, so willful, and so rebellious, that we refuse to repent! He tries to correct us, but we refuse to repent! We are so caught up in our idolatry that we refuse to repent! Is this not the generation we live in today? Is this not what our generation as a whole has done to our God? We have turned from Him, rejected Him, and refused to repent. We have fallen to false gods and adultery. Our generation must return to Him, we must repent. We are prey for the Enemy. We have broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. Our generation now must pay the punishment for what they have chosen.
So, that’s what’s stuck out to me so far… I am looking forward to seeing what else I will learn through the rest of the book!
Lauren, it is so cool that you’re reading through Jeremiah! I just started trying to read through the Minor Prophets, a set of books mostly ignored in my past Bible studies. Most people, including myself, skip the prophetic books. It’s awesome that you’re not!
Thank you for sharing these verses today. They were really encouraging (and convicting)! Keep up that study through Jeremiah!
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That’s really cool! Thanks for the encouragement.
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Hmm, that sounds vaguely…. Oh. 😛 Great job, Lauren! I love it!
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Haha! 🙂
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Thanks for this Bible Study. I am glad I found it
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Thanks for the encouragement, and thanks for stopping by!
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Thanks. I hope you keep writing!
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