Lamentations 3 - Does God Use Us for Target Practice?

Jeremiah now begins to feel sorry for himself and for all that he has been through. He feels that the Lord is against him. God had used him for target practice. He had been like a bear or a lion lying in wait for Jeremiah, and Jeremiah was discouraged. He felt as though he was in a tomb and could not get out. It was a living death. But, then he remembered that all this affliction is what made him humble and he began to thank the Lord for his mercies and for not consuming him. It seems that he begins to realize that God does want the best for us and our afflictions are helps from God to keep us humble and on the right path. We need to patiently bear whatever trials come our way. God does not afflict us without cause. He also has compassion on us. Then it seems that Jeremiah again remembers all that his enemies have done against him. He asks the Lord to avenge them for what they have done.

Do you feel discouraged? Does it feel like God is using you for target practice? Does it seem that God doesn't hear your prayers? If so, remember all the things that God has done for you. Think of how God might be using these difficult times to build your character. He always has a reason for what he does even if we cannot understand it. Sometimes we bring difficulties on ourselves when we refuse to obey Him. Other times, God wants to strengthen our faith or cause us to depend on Him. So, whatever you are facing right now, thank God for the fact that we are not consumed because of His great mercy.

Jeremiah 52 Judgment on a Country that Forsakes God

This last chapter of Jeremiah is a sad summary of what happened to God's people. It begins with a flashback to the siege that happened when Zedekiah was king. It went on for a year and a half and it finally ended because the walls were penetrated. The captain of the guard was determined to destroy the city. He broke down all the walls all the way around the city. He took all the gold silver and brass that was in the city and burned the beautiful temple, the palace and all the houses of the great men. Solomon's beautiful temple was completely destroyed. It was looted and burned to the ground. The whole city which was one of a kind and mostly built by Solomon was now in ruin. Where was the glory of the capital city of the empire God had built for his people? It was lost. God's people had forsaken Him. He was patient with them. He warned them many times. Yet, finally His judgment fell.
How long can our country disobey His laws and ignore His warnings before we suffer the same fate? God is very merciful and longsuffering, but he "will not always strive with man." He is just and someday our country will suffer a similar fate if we do not change our ways.

Jeremiah 50 God Punishes Babylon

Jeremiah has been declaring judgment on all the surrounding nations, but now he turns to Babylon, the great empire that conquered all these other nations. He tells the Chaldeans that they too will be destroyed. A country will come from the North and take them off the map. Their land would become a barren wilderness. No one will live there forever. The reason? They had touched God's people. Even though their capture of Judea was a just reward for their sins, God still cared about His people and punished Babylon for taking them captive.

God still cares about us that much. As we live for Him, we are His people and he protects us too. He may choose to allow circumstances that we do not enjoy, but He always has our good in mind. He may chasten us when we do wrong, but it is for our good. So, remember that whatever you may be facing right now. God is still looking out for you.

Jeremiah 49 - Put Your Trust in God

I apologize for failing to post yesterday. I took my computer to work and forgot to bring it home again.


In chapter 49, God continues his pronouncement of judgment on sinful nations. He mentions two nations that were powerful and felt very secure: Edom and Assyria. God said that no matter how they felt they were safe, they would be destroyed. Edom was built in the mountains and was thought to be invincible, but when God says something will happen, mountains cannot stop him. He made the mountains! Damascus, the capital of Assyria was also a very strong city, but God said that it would be destroyed also.

We may feel secure today for a variety of reasons: insurance, retirement plan, good job, healthy income, family, or church. But, God wants us to get our security from Him. If we are getting our security else ware, we can be sure that we will be disappointed. Insurance rates go up, retirement investments go bad, jobs get downsized, accidents happen, income stops, families die, churches fail, but God is always constant. If we serve Him, He will always be there for us. His Word never fails. There is nothing that gets out of control for Him. He has absolute power and unlimited knowledge. What a great God to serve!

Jeremiah 47 - 48 Destruction of Evil Nations

In chapter 47, Jeremiah moves on to the Philistines. God is no respecter of persons. As he had punished the Jews for their wickedness, so he would do to the Egyptians and the Philistines. God is merciful, but He is also just. And, there comes a point where he no longer waits for people to repent. We never know when that time will come. So, we do well to be prepared to meet Him anytime. We must be living for every moment of our lives.
Chapter 48: Now Jeremiah addressed Moab. They are a very strong nation. They had much wealth. Their cities were well fortified. Yet, if God said they would be destroyed, then there were no two ways about it: they would be destroyed. Because God is so merciful today, many people do not think that God means what He says. God's plans will always be carried out. Many times we cannot understand what God is doing, but He always has a plan and it cannot be defeated. God's plans are just so much higher than ours that we can't see them. We often could not understand them even if we could see them. What a great God we serve!

Jeremiah 45 - 46

Chapter 45: It seems that here Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe was becoming discouraged. He was looking for a reward for his faithfulness to God, but none came. Things continually got worse. He had served God and Jeremiah through thick and thin and he was getting tired of it. It seemed that he deserved a reward. Yet God, through Jeremiah, told him that he was not to look for a reward. Things would get even worse. The whole land would be destroyed. However, God did promise Baruch that he would not die in the destruction of Judea.
Sometimes we may feel like Baruch. We have served God for most of our life. We feel discouraged and wonder if it's really worth serving God. "What do I get out of it," we wonder, and then God comes to us and tells us not to be discouraged. He may even tell us that things will get worse. But, we must always remember that the reward is not at the beginning of life or the middle but at the end. So, let's remain faithful and not give us until we reach our goal.

Chapter 46: Jeremiah now turns from speaking to the Jews: he warns the Egyptians that they cannot escape Babylon either. The Babylonians will come and destroy the land and take everyone captive. He also warned them not to be confident in themselves because it would not work. He warned that their mighty men would be killed in battle and the women would be taken captive. It seems that God was using this as a punishment to them for worshipping false gods.
God is all-powerful. His ways are far above ours, and when He decided how things will be, we cannot fight against it. It is useless for us to even try. However, if we trust God and obey Him, we can be assured that God will watch over us here in life and reward us with heaven after death.

Jeremiah 44 The Stubborn Jews

The Jews that God had preserved and allowed to live in Judah had now fled into Egypt directly going against God's instructions to them. Now Jeremiah was warning them that they must serve the true God and stop worshipping the queen of heaven or they would be destroyed. Yet, these stubborn people did not even make a pretense of obeying God's Word. They boldly announced that the would not obey God, but the would persist in serving other false gods. Jeremiah told them that if they persisted, God would destroy all of them except a small remnant that would return to Judea.

Are we sometimes as stubborn as these Jews? How does it look to God when we continually disregard His clear instructions in the Bible. Let's always serve Him faithfully and never be guilty of acting like the Jews in Jeremiah's day.

Jeremiah 42 - 43 Obeying God's Will

Finally the people of Judah had rest from their captors. The few that were left in Judah could live normal lives, or so they thought. However, after their governor was killed, they feared that Nebuchadnezzar would come back and retaliate. So, they made plans to go to Egypt, but first they did the right thing! They asked Jeremiah to inquire of God whether or not they should flee to Egypt. They even promised that they would obey whatever Jeremiah said. After 10 days, Jeremiah came back with the Lord's verdict: they were not to go to Egypt. If they stayed in Judea, they would be safe from Nebuchadnezzar. If they went to Egypt, the would be killed by famine, sword and pestilence.
Despite all the promises they had made about obeying God, the disobeyed. They claimed that Jeremiah was just deceiving them and Baruch had put the idea in his head just so that Nebuchadnezzar could capture the rest of them.
Are we like that today? Do we pray for God's Will and then balk and complain when He answers our prayers and we don't like the answer? Human nature has not changed in the last 4,000 years. We tend to be much like they were. Let's remember that when we pray to God, we need to be ready for the answer he will give. Let's be willing to accept God's will for our lives without questioning

Jeremiah 40 - 41 We reap what we sow

Nearly all the Jews in Jerusalem were now taken captive. They were put in chains for the journey t o Babylon. However, God remembered Jeremiah and rewarded him for his faithfulness. The Chaldean captain released him and gave him the option of traveling along to Babylon or staying in Judah. Jeremiah chose to stay behind with the poor remnant of the people in the land of Judah. The captain gave him some food and a gift and left him go. God always takes care of His people and He did not forget how Jeremiah had tirelessly preached to the hard-hearted Jews.
It would seem that all should have been peaceful. There were very few Jews left, only the very poorest people. They had a governor over them. The Jews who had fled into other countries returned to live in Judah again, but peace did not last long. Soon someone warned the governor, Gedaliah, that the king of the Amorites had sent Ishmael to kill him, but Gedaliah did not believe them. He didn't have long to wait. Soon, Ishmael came with several men and had lunch with him. After the meal the killed Gedaliah, the governor. When some of the other Jews found out about it, they caught up with Ishmael as he fled, but he escaped with a few of his men.
So, things still were not peaceful in Judah. That's how it is: we reap what we sow. The Jews had disobeyed God and lived in wickedness for many years, and now they were reaping the consequences. Jeremiah, on the other hand, had his freedom to live as he wished and all his persecutors were in chains on their way to Babylon. He was finally getting his reward for a faithful life.

Gal 6:7
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
KJV

Jeremiah 39 - Jerusalem finally falls

The Jews stubbornly resisted God to the last, but Jeremiah's prophecies came true. It seems that Nebuchadnezzar finally had enough of the rebellious Jews. He came and broke down the walls and burned the city with fire. But, even the Zedekiah and some of the princes and men of war still tried to escape, but they were captured and brought back to the Chaldean camp and killed (except for Zedekiah). He was forced to watch the execution of his sons. Then he was blinded, put in chains and taken to Babylon. What a sad ending for this king who bravely resisted the power of the mighty Chaldeans. However, if he would only have listened to God's Word by Jeremiah, he could have saved the city and himself.
But, there is a few good notes in the end of the chapter. Nebuchadnezzar told the captain to give Jeremiah the option of doing whatever he wanted and to be sure not to let any harm come to him. Also, Jeremiah promised Ebed-Melech safety because he had heroically rescued Jeremiah from the dungeon.
How are we doing today? Are we boldly fighting evil but forgetting to obey God like Zedekiah or are we like Jeremiah and obeying God uncompromisingly even when it's unpopular? Lord, help us to serve you without reservation our whole lives.

The Rechabites and a king who burned the Bible

Chapter 35:
God told Jeremiah to make an object lesson. He was to use the Rechabites, a small nomadic tribe of people for the object lesson. He called them into the temple and set wine before them and told them to drink. But, they would not. They told Jeremiah that Jonadab, their forefather had instructed them not to drink wine, build house or to plant crops. He felt that the nomadic lifestyle would help them serve God more effectively, and it seems that he was correct. These people, it appears, were serving God and obeying their father in time when nearly everyone else was disobeying God.
Jeremiah then told this story to the people of Jerusalem. He told them how the Rechabites were still obeying the instructions of an old, dead man. However, the people of Judah were not even obeying the instructions of a living, powerful God, that was about to destroy them and their city. God was merciful. He had sent many prophets and warnings to these people, but they still would not obey.
How are we doing today. Are we obeying all God's commandments? He has given us many chances. He has given us the Bible to read. He has sent Jesus to offer salvation to the whole world. What are we doing with it?

Chapter 36:
Jeremiah was still in prison. So, he could not preach in the city, but he would not rest. He called his scribe and dictated a message to be read in the temple when all the people came for a fast. It seems that the Jews still maintained an outward form of godliness (many people were at the temple for the fast), but they had forgotten the true meaning of worship. So, while these people were at the temple, Baruch the scribe read all the judgments that God had pronounced on them because of their sins. When the princes heard about this, they called Baruch to read to them. After they heard it they told it to the king and then they read him the scroll. However, he was not so afraid by all the judgments in the scroll. He did not even believe them. As soon as several pages were read, he cut them out of the scroll and threw them into the fire until the whole scroll was gone. The princes tried to convince him not to burn the roll , but he would not listen. Somehow, he thought that destroying the message would make it untrue. But, God had a different plan. He told Jeremiah to have everything written down again, and he told Jeremiah to right many more similar words.
We may think that if we don't read or obey the Bible, the consequences for sin will not mean anything, but God's Word stands forever. It does not change. It is always true. There have been many attempts to destroy the Bible, and these attempts still go on today. In China many Bibles are smuggled into the country and people are still Christians. In the USA and other countries, Satan tries another tactic. We have so many Bibles we often don't appreciate them. There are also many "politically correct" versions of the Bible that are really not the true Bible. The Bible is not here in order not to offend anyone. It is hereto make people think and to change their life. Let's allow it to do that for our lives.