This is what God told the exiles through the prophet Jeremiah concerning their period of being held in captivity in Babylon. What’s more, God instructed them to make the most of their time there by having families and growing gardens etc. This message smacked against the soothing and blissful lies told by false prophets. God didn’t want to quickly remove His people from the challenge … He wanted to show them His great power while they walked THROUGH their challenge.

We have challenges today. God is with us as we navigate them. This life is the process. Heaven will be the perfection. God always knows what He’s doing. It’s for us to trust Him and cope by faith.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 28,29

Note: I’ve been using The Message by Eugene Peterson. Watch this insightful video about him: https://youtu.be/LaMgIvbXqSk

This was the essence of Jeremiah’s message to Israel; “Change the way you’re living!”

They did not have the gifts that we do … no Jesus, no grace, no Holy Spirit to guide them and convict them of their sin. The pre-incarnate Christ was there in the prophecies given about Him, and He made occasional appearances in a semi-camouflaged way, but He wasn’t walking among them or being preached every Sunday. He had not yet told them that they could come to Him and have all sinfulness washed away in an instant.

We have. We have Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. [1 John. 1:9] Therefore, it is much easier and effectively efficient to change our ways of living. He helps us. He loves us and wants to save us from ourselves.

Jesus, give me Your power to live a life that pleases You today.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 26,27

The picture Jeremiah presented was that God’s wrath was a cup to drink from … that nations and leaders who were the object of His wrath would become drunken and suffer His punishments. Nations who think they are exempt from God’s providence are temporarily fooling themselves. To think they are untouchable is an illusion. He will have the final say.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” [Ps. 33:12]

Regardless of what nation we find ourselves in, we are members of a holy nation of saints who have been washed in the Lamb’s blood and will inherit God’s promises of blessing and abundant, eternal life.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 24,25

Jesus was and is the premier example of a good shepherd. He loves and cares for His sheep. We are His sheep.

Likewise, good shepherds do the same.

It’s a mistake to rate a pastor merely on his or her ability to preach a sermon. Do they really care for the sheep? The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 21-23

Jeremiah’s message was not well received. He endured great ridicule and even beatings. God gave him an unpopular message and he was faithful to deliver it at great cost to him personally. Today, we recognize him as a great major prophet and draw much spiritual strength from his proclamations.

All is not necessarily bliss for those whom God uses. He gives them a mission and they faithfully obey Him, even at a cost to their own well-being and comfort.

If we suffer because we ourselves have messed up, we deserve it. We ask for mercy.

If we suffer doing God’s will at great personal cost, God will make it up to us. It can happen in this life or in the life to come.

Where would you rather have your benefits? Here in the “Nasty Now and Now” or in the “Sweet By and By?”

READ/HEAR: Jer. 18-20

Found in Jeremiah 17, this is a key verse forever:

Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  [Jer. 17:7-10]

We pray, “Lord, help us keep our hearts clean and pure.”

READ/HEAR: Jer. 17

Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet. His messages were often very critical of the idolatry and social injustice practiced by God’s people. He spoke of suffering, attack from enemies, and exile. His must have been a lonely and difficult existence.

Our words at times can be hard to be received, but God has called us to speak the truth in love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. [Pr. 27:6]

READ/HEAR: Jer. 14-16

Jeremiah had the distinct privilege of speaking for the Lord. His message was to Israel and nations as God directed. It was a fearful position to hold … speaking for God. It was not always popular. His life was threatened because of the pain his words brought upon his hearers. Nevertheless, he courageously spoke and wrote the words God gave him.

Whenever we quote scripture, we are, in effect, speaking for God. We don’t have license to sling it around for our own purposes. We are mandated to “rightly divide” it. That means interpret correctly. This ability is the result of study and the leading of the Holy Spirit when we speak to others.

“Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” [2 Tim. 2:15]

READ/HEAR: Jer. 10-13

Humility is certainly preferred over pride in Christianity, but Jeremiah explains how we may boast … in the fact that we KNOW the Lord. Tucked away in the latter verses of chapter nine is a profound exclamation;

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me (the LORD).” [Jer. 9:23,24]

We boast in the Lord and we use wisdom, might, and riches to serve Him. If we boast in or bow down to them, they become idols that rob God of His full glory.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 7-9

What source can you find other than the Bible that can predict the future? There is none. It’s record is clear to see … the prophecies of Christ and many other facts are openly seen in the Word.

We are wise to be familiar with what God says about the end times by becoming personal students of God’s advice as revealed in His Word. God’s pattern is often, “This is that.” We we read or hear the Word, it becomes obvious what He is trying to say to us. The key is to keep reading it.

As my life keeps getting closer to its end, I am more mindful of the truly consequential issues of life … being faithful to God’s calling and purpose for our lives, and maintaining right relationships with those around us.

READ/HEAR: Jer. 4-6