JULY 31

How can God be so cruel in his rejection of their plea? His response is that the nation is condemned for its corporate sins. And judgment against the nation has been accruing for many years, particularly since Manasseh reintroduced idolatry in Judah. Moreover, God knows that many people who have sincerely turned to him for a time will later backslide and turn away. So at this time in history God's compassion is cautious.

Because of this, Jeremiah finds it necessary not only to rebuke the wicked but also to tell believers that even the prayers may not be answered positive­ly. Jeremiah is obviously exasperated by the weight of it all.

 

JEREMIAH FEELS PRESSURE. jer. 15:10     

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,

a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!

I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

 

GOD REASSURES.    jer. 15:11     

The lord said,

"Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;

surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.

 

THE DISASTER SPECIFIED. Jer. 15:12-14

"Can a man break iron—

iron from the north—or bronze? Your wealth and your treasures

I will give as plunder, without charge, because of all your sins

throughout your country. I will enslave you to your enemies

in/ a land you do not know, for my anger will kindle a fire

that will burn against you."

 

JEREMIAH COMPLAINS. Jer. 15:15-18

You understand, O lord;

remember me and care for me.

Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away;

think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. When your words came, I ate them;

they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name,

O lord God Almighty. I never sat in the company of revelers,

never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me

and you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unending

and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook,

like a spring that fails?

 

GOD CHASTISES JEREMIAH.   Jer. 15:19-21

 Therefore this is what the lord says:

"If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me;

if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,

you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you,

but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people,

a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you

but will not overcome you, for I am with you

to rescue and save you,"

declares the lord. "I will save you from the hands of the wicked

and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel."

At the very time he is most discouraged, Jeremiah is instructed that more sacrifice is in store. He is not to marry, attend funerals, or join in festive celebrations.

 

JEREMIAH NOT TO MARRY. Jer. 16:1-4

Then the word of the lord came to me: "You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place." For this is what the lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: "They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like refuse lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth."

 

JEREMIAH NOT TO MOURN. Jer. 16:5-7

For this is what the lord says: "Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people," declares the lord. "Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut himself or shave his head for them. No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.

 

JEREMIAH NOT TO FEAST. Jer. 16:8,9

"And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. For this is what the lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bride­groom in this place.

 

MESSAGE TO BE PREACHED. Jer. 16:10-21

 "When you tell these people all this and they ask you, 'Why has the lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the lord our God?' then say to them, 'It is because your fathers forsook me declares the lord, 'and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. But you have behaved more wicked­ly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me. So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'

 

"However, the days are coming," declares the lord, "when men will no

longer say, 'As surely as the lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' but they will say, 'As surely as the lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their fore-fathers.

 

"But now I will send for many fishermen," declares the lord, "and they will catch them. After that 1 will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. 1 will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols."

 

O lord, my strength and my fortress,

my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come

from the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods,

worthless idols that did them no good.  Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods'."

 

"Therefore 1 will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know

that my name is the lord.

 

To Jeremiah's credit, he rises to the occasion and subordinates his personal feelings. Of course, Jeremiah's persevering character was known to God, and that may be why God called him to this demanding ministry. (Calling one to difficult service may actually be God's way of honoring his servant's strength of character.) So it is that Jeremiah resumes his ministry and brings God's mes­sage to his people.

 

GOD'S JUDGMENT CONVEYED. Jer. 17:1-4

"Judah's sin is engraved with an iron tool,

inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts

and on the horns of their altars. Even their children remember

their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees

and on the high hills. My mountain in the land

and your' wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder,

together with your high places,

because of sin throughout your country.

Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance 1 gave you.

I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, '

for you have kindled my anger, . and it will burn forever."                '"

 

TRUST IN MAN FUTILE. Jer. 17:5-8

   This is what the lord says

Cursed is the one who trusts in man,        

who depends on flesh for his strength

and whose heart turns away from the He will be like a bush in the wastelands;

he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the

in a salt land where no one lives.

 

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes;  its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

 

GOD KNOWS THE HEART. Jer. 17:9-11

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

I the lord search the heart  and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

 

Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay

is the man who gains riches by unjust means.

 When his life is half gone, they will desert him,

and in the end he will prove to be a fool.

 

How often Jeremiah longs for his mission to conclude! The cynics and scoffers mock him by asking when all this wrath is going to happen. They observe nothing but peace and prosperity all around, and view talk of Jerusalem's destruction and Judah's fall as so much nonsense. It is probably such taunting that prompts the following prayer from Jeremiah.

 

PLEA FOR SWIFT EXECUTION. Jer 17:12-18

 

A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. O LORD, the hope of Israel,

all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the lord, the spring of living water.

Heal me, O lord, and I will be healed;

save me and I will be saved,

for you are the one I praise. They keep saying to me,

"Where is the word of the lord?

Let it now be fulfilled!" I have not run away from being your shepherd;

you know I have not desired the day of despair.

What passes my lips is open before you.   Do not be a terror to me;

you are my refuge in the day of disaster. Let" my persecutors be put to shame,

but keep me from shame;  let them be terrified,  

but keep me from terror.  Bring on them the day of disaster;  

destroy them with double destruction