June 28, 2009 Jeremiah Chs 17-20

For Wordlisteners tonight we had 7, and we read and discussed Jeremiah
chapters 17-20. Next week is Praise and Worship, so it will be two
weeks (July 12) before we meet again. A story was told about how at some
Bible schools the kids don't want to go home afterwards because of their
lives. The parents don't care. It came up after the text about how
Judah had burned their kids with fire. Selfishness can get to such a
condition that our own kids don't matter, the same happened then as now.
Lord Jesus come quickly.

Chapter 17
Judah's sin is engraved, there is clear evidence of it. God will give away their possessions- what He in fact had given them, they will become slaves.

His message: strong and proud who feel that God is unnecessary, they will be cursed. They will have no roots or purpose, they will blow around like tumbleweeds. These are people who feel like their efforts have made their life, they don't realize it is of God.

Those that trust in God- like a tree planted in Eden. Trust in God is the way back to Eden folks. Worries are unnecessary even in bad circumstances. Those that trust God bear fruit every season.

Recently in Sunday school people were reminded of the need to "trust and obey"

Trust your heart? (as opposed to God?) - the heart is dark and deceitful, and can't be figured out (by us). We can never really know another's heart, only suspect. Some people are good at pretending. God searches hearts, He finds the truth there and treats people as they really are – He can't be fooled.

Cheaters and deceivers will be exposed, since God knows people's hearts He will expose them. We are living in pride if we think He has to settle all accounts in our time and not His. A dishonest rich person will look like a fool- riches is something we tend to respect, yet a lost rich person is a tragedy. A lost person is just as much a tragedy.

God is the hope of Israel, those who leave Him will end up looking like fools, again He doesn't leave us. Jeremiah asks Him to pick up the pieces- all his proclaimed doom from the mouth of God hasn't happened - again people in pride expecting God to act on their time and not His.

God gave Jeremiah a message- keep the Sabbath Holy, don't turn it into another day. Which God said they had done- not kept the Sabbath properly- like their ancestors. So He tells them that if they will do that then Jerusalem would always be filled with people. If they choose not to listen then Jerusalem will be destroyed. Obeying God brings blessing, disobeying Him brings tragedy (Trust and obey).

Chapter 18
More obedience, Jeremiah is told to go to the potter's house (without any idea why) just that he would get the message when he got there. One of the instances in the Bible where God tells people what they need as they need it. If He tells us too much in advance our pride tends to cause us to question God. God used the potter as an example to Jeremiah to show we are like clay in His hands. If we don't turn out He might get rid of us, if we repent, He might start over with us. If we don't listen to Him, He might give up on us. I wonder how close He is to doing that with this country? He has plans for us, if we are obedient.

For Judah and Jerusalem He is planning doom, but still giving them an opportunity for real repentance. He says then that they have left Him for the big lie, gotten off the well worn trail in favor of bush whacking through underbrush. They will look for God on the day of their doom and see His back, what they have shown Him for so long.

Some get the idea that shutting up Jeremiah the messenger will somehow shut up the message. They will still have others that say what they want to hear. In my work a lot of effort is put into making sure people get certain information. Posting it and expecting them to read it on their own is not acceptable, usually it has to be read to them and a signature obtained that they were made aware and agree to abide by it. This way certain policies can be enforced, ignorance of the law is an excuse these days. This strikes me as similar, people are trying to make God jump through that hoop, claiming they don't know of Him or His message to Him. In fact this action is a denial of God and His authority. So many of our actions testify to God. I think the greatest one is our acknowledgment that we don't know everything. All of us have to acknowledge that. I don't know Chinese- one of thousands of examples. I don't know other's hearts but I believe SomeOne does, that someone being God.

Jeremiah knows of the plot against him, and it wears down some of his resolve and his softness for his people. He has had enough and he is ready for God to act. He goes from praying for them in one sentence to asking God to send judgment on them.

Another interesting thing is that his rant to God against those out to get him. God listens, but then starts Chapter 20 by sending Him to do something positive. At least potentially positive.

Chapter 19
The clay pot example. Go buy a pot, call the leaders together, and say what the Lord tells you. God warns of impending doom – which probably means there is a way out, He wants them to turn to Him. They have served other gods and sacrificed children, turning their back on God. God is canceling His plans -for the town and the people, and will let them be killed instead. People will become cannibals- eating one another just to trying to cling to survival in this life.

Jeremiah is then to smash a clay pot- such that it can't be put back together. Like a Topheth, the whole city will be an open grave. Then Jeremiah went to Jerusalem and preached the doom of it- why? Because the people were set in their ways and were not listening to God. It wasn't that God was mad, but rather that we wouldn't obey Him.

Chapter 20
Pashur (which means prosperity everywhere), the senior priest in God's Temple did not like Jeremiah's message when he heard it, so he had Jeremiah whipped, and then put him in stocks. Just overnight. Rather than considering the message may be from God and doing some reflecting, submitting and repentance, he went after the messenger. How many time do we defend our actions rather than considering the source of the information we hear? We feel we are enlightened and I'm sure Pashur with his position felt he knew "best"- its pride.

Jeremiah says that God's new name for him is "danger everywhere". This isn't Jeremiah mad about what had happened to him, but rather a man in relationship with God, sharing what he is told to. Exactly what the priest was supposed to do. He continues to prophesy about Jerusalem's and Pashur's fate.

Pashur's decision will affect his family, and examples of this happen many times in the Bible as well as in our lives. Where one person's decision causes his/her family to be destroyed or blessed. Often times we get too much into self, and we deny this truth. Parent's actions or lack thereof often cause kids lives to be affected.

Jeremiah then shares his experience of being obedient to God, but not being well received by people. He is obedient by faithfully delivering the words he is given although they aren't what the people want to hear. He tires of their lack of positive response and tries to resist giving God's messages, and the words burn- he has to let them out. His audience doesn't want to hear them. Its interesting that Jeremiah is labeled by the people something close to what God had renamed the chief priest that put him in stocks. Is this the people confessing through their ignorance that Jeremiah was God's chosen for chief priest? The people are looking for Jeremiah to misstep in his walk with the Lord, the same as they would do to Jesus. God protects him though, God that looks on the hearts, Jeremiah can rest his case with God and not have to worry.

Now for a little depression, a man who walked with God longing to have never been born? Same as Job? He sees the future and he knows it is grim. He has said it over and over and he believes it. Even though it hasn't happened yet, it will because God said it.