Bible Reading Reflection from Jeremiah 1-6

[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (JAC), a daily reading update (reflection) from each chapter of the Bible] 

𝕁𝔼ℝ𝔼𝕄𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟙:𝟝, 𝟙𝟟

v5. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."

v17. "Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them."

Jeremiah had a special calling because of the difficult task he was given to do. God told him to be strong. To contend with the people.

Jeremiah can't afford to be weak. He should not be surprised, discouraged, or dismayed by the hardness of the people. God will punish him, should he be.

God's leaders are like that. They are called to have an iron face! People will say that he is outdated, not cool, irrelevant, uninteresting, yet he shall neither be ashamed nor be discouraged! He doesn't care what the world thinks of him or his message. He will neither tone down, nor dilute his message. He will not change; the people must change. And if the people don't change, he will still do what he does.

That's a tough, cool, faithful man of God, Jeremiah!

 

𝕁𝔼ℝ𝔼𝕄𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟚:𝟙𝟛

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water."

First, they have forsaken God. They have stopped trusting God. They have stopped delighting in God. They have stopped praying. They have stopped walking with God. They have stopped depending on God. They have stopped talking about God. They have stopped meditating upon the word of God. They were practical atheists! They lived like God didn't care!

Second, they have run after Materialism. They have sought after materialistic things for their survival. They have put their trust in their friendship with other nations for help in times of crisis. They have put their trust in their achievement, their fortress, weapons, horses. They have sought for help from here and there.

When we don't seek help from God, we will be seeking somewhere. When we don't delight in God, we will be taking delight in other things. When we don't give credit to God, we will be giving to other things.

Those who walk with God know how to walk in the world. Those who live for God's glory know how to live a productive life in this world. But those who don't walk with God daily, those whose delight is not found in God do not know how to balance the things of God and the responsibility of life!

 

𝕁𝔼ℝ𝔼𝕄𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟛:𝟙

"God says, "If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man, Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted? But you are a harlot with many lovers; Yet you turn to Me," declares the LORD."

God's plea for repentance is seen over and over again in this chapter. According to law, a divorced woman who has married somebody else cannot be accepted back by the first husband. And that law is good!

But here, God is going to do what is illegal! And the reason is that God is love. And His love covers a multitude of sins. But not only God is love, but because He is God. He can make sinners clean and just.

Sometimes, people say, "God looks unfair." Actually, we don't want God to judge us fairly. We all want God to be unfair (to be merciful, graceful). And btw, we are not God, we can't do whatever God does. There are some prerogatives of God. We are to be like Christ in almost everything, but we should not demand worship from others because we cannot save anyone. And if someone asks us to visit and pray for the sick, we should not delay like Christ for him to die (Bethany), because we can't raise him from the dead!

 

𝕁𝔼ℝ𝔼𝕄𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟜:𝟙-𝟚

“‘If you will return, O Israel,’ declares the LORD, ‘Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver,  And you will swear, 'As the LORD lives,' In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.’”

For the nations to bless God, for the nations to be blessed, for the nations to take delight in God, for the nations to call upon the name of God, the Israelites must be godly and righteous. First, they need to repent. They have wasted their life enough: toiling and sweating in thorns, not in fallow ground.

Nobody will like to worship your God if you aren't enjoying Him. Nobody will love your church if you don't enjoy your church. Removing a plank of wood from our eyes before we think of telling others to remove a speck of dust from their eyes.

 

𝕁𝔼ℝ𝔼𝕄𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝:𝟙

"Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her."

Not even one in the whole land could stand up before God even in prayer. So, God was about to destroy. God always looks out for a man to be His channel of forgiveness. The whole world is fallen; Christ became man to stand before God to bring forgiveness to mankind. Israel sinned, and God forgave them through Moses' intercession. Sodom was sinful, there was no righteous man; Abraham’s intercession could save only Lot's family.

God was willing to spare, to forgive, to relent His judgment, to change His mind if there was even one righteous man. O the mercy of God! O the patience of God. O the love of God!

 

𝕁𝔼ℝ𝔼𝕄𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟞:𝟙𝟛-𝟙𝟜

"For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is greedy for gain, And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely."

Everyone's greedy said the prophet, and this can be said of mankind almost all the time. How we ought to guard against greed!

It's even so difficult to diagnose this sin. We played it down by calling it "ambitious" "hardworking" etc.

Now, the rich are richer and the poor remain the same, and the gap becomes bigger. The rich want to be richer. And even the poor curse the rich. Greed is in all human!