Devotions

battle horse

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

Photo by Harrison Haines on Pexels.com

battle horse

Jeremiah 8:4-17 (JDV)

Jeremiah 8:4 “You are to say to them: This is what Yahveh says: Do people fall and not get up again? If they turn away, do they not turn back?

Jeremiah 8:5 Why have these people turned away? Why is Jerusalem always rebelling? They take hold of a lie; they refuse to turn back.

Jeremiah 8:6 I have listened and paid careful attention. They do not speak what is right. No one regrets his evil, asking, ‘What have I done? ‘ Everyone has stayed his course like a horse rushing headlong into battle.

Jeremiah 8:7 Even storks in the sky know their seasons. Turtledoves, swallows, and cranes are aware of their migration, but my people do not know the requirements of Yahveh.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you claim, ‘We are wise; the instruction of Yahveh is with us’? Notice, the lying pen of scribes has produced falsehood.

Jeremiah 8:9 The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. Notice, they have rejected the word of Yahveh, so what wisdom do they really have?

Jeremiah 8:10 Therefore, I will give their wives to other men, their fields to new occupants, for from the least to the greatest, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

Jeremiah 8:11 They have treated the brokenness of my dear people minimally, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

Jeremiah 8:12 Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse,” says Yahveh.

Jeremiah 8:13 I will gather them and bring them to an end. This is what Yahveh declares. There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wilt. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.

Jeremiah 8:14 What are we sitting for? Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities and perish there, because Yahveh our God has destroyed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have failed Yahveh.

Jeremiah 8:15 We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but notice—there was only terror.

Jeremiah 8:16 From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all its residents.

Jeremiah 8:17 Notice, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you. This is what Yahveh declares.

battle horse

Jeremiah condemns his people because they knew they were sinning against the Lord but they just kept on sinning. He compared them to a battle horse, who is trained to keep running straight into the conflict.

As a consequence of this stubborn sinfulness, the Lord is going to send battle horses from the enemy. From the north (Dan) these foreign invaders will come and devour the land and its people.

Lord, forgive us for our stubborn sinfulness. Teach us your ways.

Posted in rebellion, sin | Tagged Jeremiah 8 | Leave a comment

Ben Hinnom Valley

Posted on October 11, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

Photo by Felipe Hueb on Pexels.com

Ben Hinnom Valley

Jeremiah 7:30-8:3 (JDV)

Jeremiah 7:30 “You see, the sons of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes.” This is what Yahveh declares. “They have set up their repulsive things in the house that bears my name in order to defile it.

Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in Ben Hinnom Valley in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; It never entered my heart.

Jeremiah 7:32 “So, notice, the days are coming” – this is what Yahveh declares – “when this place will no longer be called Topheth and Ben Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a cemetery, because there will be no other burial place.

Jeremiah 7:33 The corpses of these people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.

Jeremiah 7:34 I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride, because the land will become a desolate waste.

Jeremiah 8:1 “At that time” – this is what Yahveh declares – “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.

Jeremiah 8:2 They will be exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky, which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the soil’s surface.

Jeremiah 8:3 Death will be chosen instead of life by all the remainder of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them.” This is what Yahveh of Armies declares.

Ben Hinnom Valley

Ezekiel saw a vision of dead bones rising again (37:1-14), and his prophecy is brought down to us in history in the Bible and we remember it because of a joyful spiritual song. But nobody made a song about Jeremiah’s prophecy about bones. It’s the other side of the story.

Jeremiah predicted the dissolution and death of the royal family of Judah, together with all the priests and officials of Jerusalem at his time. The Lord would destroy them, wiping them out of existence because of their betrayal and idolatry – even murdering their own children in order to appease pagan gods.

In Jeremiah’s prophecy, the bones of these rulers and those who followed them will be exhumed, and piled on the ground, and the whole valley will be exposed to the open sky – to those things they worshiped.

The idea was so repulsive to the Israelites that they would tell their children about that awful place as a symbol of God’s final judgment. This terrible cemetery of the future, where everything is dead and exposed became a synonym for the final judgment of the wicked itself. This Valley of Slaughter would take place in Ben Hinnom valley. The Greek term would be Gehenna. This is what Jesus was talking about when he warned people to fear God, because he is able to destroy soul and body in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28).

Lord, rescue us from the future terrible fate of those who reject you.

Posted in destruction in hell, judgment, mortality | Tagged Jeremiah 7 | Leave a comment

not a waste of time

Posted on October 10, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com

not a waste of time

Jeremiah 7:16-29 (JDV)

Jeremiah 7:16 “And you, do not pray for these people. Do not cry out or a petition me on their behalf, and do not beg me, because I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah 7:17 Just look at their behavior in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 7:18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of the sky, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me.

Jeremiah 7:19 But are they really provoking me?” This is what Yahveh declares. “Isn’t it they themselves being provoked to shame?”

Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore, this is what Yahveh God says: “Notice, my anger – my burning wrath – is about to be poured out on this place, on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”

Jeremiah 7:21 This is what Yahveh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,

Jeremiah 7:22 because when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.

Jeremiah 7:23 But I did give them this command: ‘Obey me, and then I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.’

Jeremiah 7:24 Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.

Jeremiah 7:25 since the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets to you time and time again.

Jeremiah 7:26 But they wouldn’t listen to me or pay attention but became obstinate; they did more evil than their fathers.

Jeremiah 7:27 “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.

Jeremiah 7:28 Therefore, declare to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to Yahveh their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has been destroyed—it has disappeared from their mouths.

Jeremiah 7:29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, because Yahveh has rejected and abandoned this generation under his wrath.’

not a waste of time

God’s word to Jeremiah was that the generation he was sent to declare the word of God to was rejected and abandoned. The great revival he wanted would not happen. The reversal of the people’s backward movement away from God would not happen. They were a lost cause.

So, why did God send Jeremiah? Was his life a futile, unnecessary waste of time?

No, Jeremiah’s words would remain. His witness to God’s passion for his rejected people would reach forward into the future, even to our time.

I challenge you, friend. If God is giving you a message to speak, speak it. It does not matter if nobody seems to be listening to your sermons, or reading your posts, or taking your advice. Testifying to God’s truth is never a waste of time.

Lord, give us the courage to keep testifying your truth.

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temporary temple

Posted on October 9, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

Photo by Alexis Azabache on Pexels.com

temporary temple

Jeremiah 7:1-15 (JDV)

Jeremiah 7:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahveh. This is what it said:

Jeremiah 7:2 “Stand in the gate of the house of Yahveh and call out this word there: ‘Hear the word of Yahveh, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship Yahveh.

Jeremiah 7:3 ” ‘This is what Yahveh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions, and I will allow you to continue living in this place.

Jeremiah 7:4 Stop trusting deceitful words, which chant, “These buildings are the temple of Yahveh, the temple of Yahveh, the temple of Yahveh.”

Jeremiah 7:5 Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,

Jeremiah 7:6 Stop oppressing the guest, orphan, and widow and stop shedding innocent blood in this place or following other gods, bringing harm on yourselves,

Jeremiah 7:7 I will allow you to continue living in this place, the land I gave to your fathers long ago and permanently.

Jeremiah 7:8 But notice, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

Jeremiah 7:9 ” ‘Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?

Jeremiah 7:10 Then do you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, “We are safe, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts”?

Jeremiah 7:11 Has this house, which bears my name, become a hideout for robbers in your view? Notice, I too have seen it. This is what Yahveh declares.

Jeremiah 7:12 ” ‘But return to my place that was at Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

Jeremiah 7:13 Now, because you have done all these things – this is what Yahveh declares – and because I have spoken to you time and time again but you wouldn’t listen, and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,

Jeremiah 7:14 what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that bears my name – the house in which you trust – the place that I gave you and your fathers.

Jeremiah 7:15 I will banish you from my presence, just as I banished all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.’

temporary temple

Joe Pritchett relates this story to Jeremiah 7:

“A young woman took notice of an elderly shut-in lady connected to her church. The young woman decided to surprise her with a home-made chocolate cake one Friday afternoon. The elderly lady thanked her profusely. Her response pleased the young woman, so she decided to do it weekly. After the third week, the elderly lady asked if she could bring the cakes on Wednesdays so that she could serve them to her bridge club on Thursdays. Two weeks later, she told the young woman that her club preferred lemon cakes, so she should bring lemon instead. One week, the young woman was ill and could not prepare a cake. The elderly lady called to berate the young woman for being inconsiderate and unreliable because she did not bring her a cake that week!”[1]
How quick we all are to take blessings for granted, and to assume they will always be there. Jeremiah’s people thought the temple would be a permanent fixture, but Jeremiah reminded them of Shiloh. Nothing is permanent for people who reject God’s word.

Lord, build in us a lasting appreciation for your word.

[1] Maranatha Daily Devotional. Tuesday, November 3, 2015.

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rejected silver

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

Photo by Judy Sengsone on Pexels.com

rejected silver

Jeremiah 6:22-30 (JDV)

Jeremiah 6:22 This is what Yahveh says: Notice, a people will come from a northern land; a large nation will be stirred up from the remote regions of the land.

Jeremiah 6:23 They grasp bow and javelin. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up like men in battle formation against you, Daughter Zion.

Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard about it, and our hands hang limp. We have lost our battle strength—pain, like a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 6:25 Don’t go out to the countryside; don’t walk on the road, because the enemy has a sword; terror surrounds us.

Jeremiah 6:26 My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in the dust. Mourn as you would for an only son, a bitter lament, for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

Jeremiah 6:27 I have appointed you to be a metal assayer among my people – a refiner — so you may know and assay their way of life.

Jeremiah 6:28 They are all stubborn rebels spreading slander. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.

Jeremiah 6:29 The bellows blow, blasting the lead with fire. The refining is completely in vain; the evil ones are not separated out.

Jeremiah 6:30 They are called rejected silver, because Yahveh has rejected them.

rejected silver

The idea of rejected silver is that it was intended to be refined and then enjoyed as a treasure. But Jeremiah does not hold out hope for that. Instead, the refining process is completely in vain. The corruption is not separated out. You would think that the great enemy from the north would have done that. But it will take the great Friend from heaven to do it.

There is still hope for Israel, just like there is hope for you and me. But that hope is only in Christ.

Lord, refine us, make us vessels of pure silver, treasures for your sanctuary.

Posted in discipleship, redemption | Tagged Jeremiah 6 | Leave a comment

incense and sweet cane

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

close up photo of lighted incense sticks

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incense and sweet cane

Jeremiah 6:16-21 (JDV)

Jeremiah 6:16 This is what Yahveh says: Stand by the crossroads and look. Ask about the path of long ago, “Which is the way to the good path?” Then take it and find rest for yourselves. But they protested, “We won’t!”

Jeremiah 6:17 I appointed watchmen over you and said, “Listen to the sound of the ram’s horn.” But they protested, “We won’t listen!”

Jeremiah 6:18 Therefore listen, you nations and you witnesses, learn what the charge is against them.

Jeremiah 6:19 Listen, land! Notice I am about to bring disaster on these people, the fruit of their own plotting, because they have paid no attention to my word. They have rejected my instruction.

Jeremiah 6:20 What purpose to me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.

Jeremiah 6:21 Therefore, this is what Yahveh says: Notice, I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people; fathers and sons together will stumble over them; friends and neighbors will also be destroyed.

incense and sweet cane

Jeremiah’s people thought that they could ignore what God had told them to do as long as they kept up the sacrifice rituals, and spent a little on high quality supplies for the temple. But those items of worship are useless if you have broken covenant with the one you claim to worship.

Even today, people try to buy off the God they have otherwise ignored. It does not work out any better today than it did then.

Seek the Lord while he is offering himself to be found. There will come a day when you might want to follow his path, and there will be nothing but stumbling blocks in your way.

Lord, forgive us for all those times we have refused to listen. We want to follow your path – the good path.

Posted in commitment, hypocrisy, religion, worship | Tagged Jeremiah 6 | Leave a comment

underkill

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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underkill

Jeremiah 6:10-15 (JDV)

Jeremiah 6:10 Who can I speak to and give such a warning that they would listen? Notice, their ear is uncircumcised, so they cannot pay attention. Notice, the word of Yahveh has become contemptible to them—they do not treasure it.

Jeremiah 6:11 And I am full of Yahveh’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. Pour it out on the children in the street, on the gathering of young men as well. You see, both husband and wife will be captured, the old with the very old.

Jeremiah 6:12 Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, because I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land. This is what Yahveh declares.

Jeremiah 6:13 You see, from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

Jeremiah 6:14 They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed because of this repulsive behavior? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I visit them, they will collapse, says Yahveh.

underkill

Long distance hiking is my sport of choice. Anyone who knows my wife and me is aware of that. A few years ago, after I completed a long stretch on the Appalachian Trail – over a thousand miles – I had a serious knee problem. Because my physician at the Veteran’s Administration health facility wanted me to stay off my knee for a while and give it a rest, I left the clinic with a pair of crutches. I hadn’t broken anything, so I didn’t really need crutches. It was overkill. I didn’t use them for long, because it was ridiculous. As soon as I could handle the weight on my knee, I stopped using the crutches.

Looking back on that, I am happy for my doctor’s treatment, because I would rather overtreat a problem than undertreat it, so that it gets worse.

That is what Jeremiah’s people were doing. They were ignoring their problem as if it didn’t exist. They were engaging in underkill. God could not let their rebellion and corruption continue. He had to send the invasion.

Lord, we ask you to search us and find every evil way that does not conform to your will, and heal us. Lead us to true spiritual health and wholeness.

Posted in hypocrisy, neglect, pride, rebellion, resistance | Tagged Jeremiah 6 | Leave a comment

picked clean

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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picked clean

Jeremiah 6:1-9 (JDV)

Jeremiah 6:1 “Run for safety out of the belly of Jerusalem, sons of Benjamin. Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; raise a smoke signal over Beth-haccherem, because disaster looks down from the north, even a severe fracture.

Jeremiah 6:2 Though she is beautiful and delicate, I have cut off Daughter Zion.

Jeremiah 6:3 Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her. Each will pasture his own portion.

Jeremiah 6:4 Commit them for war against her; rise up, let’s attack at noon. Tragedy for us, because the day is passing; the evening shadows grow long.

Jeremiah 6:5 Rise up, let’s attack by night. Let us destroy her fortresses.”

Jeremiah 6:6 You see, this is what Yahveh of Armies says: Cut down the trees; raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her.

Jeremiah 6:7 As a well gushes out its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her. Sickness and wounds keep coming to my attention.

Jeremiah 6:8 Be corrected, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitants.

Jeremiah 6:9 This is what Yahveh of Armies says: Glean the remainder of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.

picked clean

It takes a lot of grapes to make wine, so the pickers will go over the vine more than once, to make sure that all the fruit is harvested. Go out and look at a vineyard after harvest, and you will not find anything left. It will be picked clean.

The Lord spoke through Jeremiah to the nations which would harvest his people. He told them to glean the remainder of Israel as thoroughly as a vine, passing their hand once more as a grape gatherer over the branches.

When judgment from God comes, he will miss nothing. He will pick clean every living thing, and leave an empty vine.

Jesus talks about his final judgment as a great harvest, in which the good fruit is retrieved, and all the rest is destroyed. The final punishment of hell will leave nothing behind to punish. Instead, Jesus warns us to fear him who is able to destroy soul and body in hell.

Lord, make us a people fruitful for your kingdom, because only your fruit will remain forever.

Posted in destruction in hell, judgment | Tagged Jeremiah 6 | Leave a comment

walking in the wrong direction

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

photo of kid wearing raincoat while walking on park

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walking in the wrong direction

Jeremiah 5:20-31 (JDV)

Jeremiah 5:20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:

Jeremiah 5:21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear.

Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear me? this is what Yahveh declares. Do you not tremble before me, the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it.

Jeremiah 5:23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away.

Jeremiah 5:24 They have not said to themselves, ‘Let’s fear Yahveh our God, who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’

Jeremiah 5:25 Your violations have diverted these things from you. Your failures [1] have withheld my bounty from you,

Jeremiah 5:26 because wicked men live among my people. They watch like hunters lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

Jeremiah 5:27 Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.

Jeremiah 5:28 They have become fat and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters. They have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy.

Jeremiah 5:29 Should I not punish them for these things? this is what Yahveh declares. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

Jeremiah 5:30 An appalling, horrible thing has taken place in the land.

Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it?

walking in the wrong direction

I have an extreme supernatural gift of getting lost wherever I go. It is something that I can depend on. If I am faced with two roads to take, I will inevitably chose the wrong one.

Knowing this about myself, I rarely put myself in a situation where I make the choice of which direction to go. It would not make sense for me to usurp my own authority and decide such things, knowing my propensity to judge poorly.

Jeremiah was speaking to a people who also had a record of going in the wrong direction. The unfortunate thing is that his people loved it like that. So, Jeremiah challenged them to think about the consequence of living their lives apart from God’s corrective instruction. If they kept walking in the wrong direction, they would eventually come to a place where even God could not rescue them. Hell is such a place.

Lord, give us the wisdom to pay attention to your word, and carefully follow your Son.

_______________________________
1 חַטָּאת = failure. Jeremiah 5:25; 14:10; 15:13; 16:10, 18; 17:1, 3; 18:23; 30:14-15; 31:34; 36:3; 50:20.

Posted in discernment, discipleship, guidance, obedience | Tagged Jeremiah 5 | Leave a comment

freedom from God

Posted on October 3, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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freedom from God

Jeremiah 5:1-19 (JDV)

Jeremiah 5:1 Roam through the streets of Jerusalem. Investigate; search in her squares. If you find one person, any who acts justly, who pursues faithfulness, then I will forgive her.

Jeremiah 5:2 Even when they say, “As Yahveh lives,” they are swearing falsely.

Jeremiah 5:3 Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return.

Jeremiah 5:4 Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have been foolish, because they don’t understand the way of Yahveh, the justice of their God.

Jeremiah 5:5 I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of Yahveh, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

Jeremiah 5:6 Therefore, from the forest a lion will strike them down. From arid plains a wolf will ravage them. In their cities a leopard stalks. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their revolts are many, their rebellious deeds numerous.

Jeremiah 5:7 Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned me and sworn by those who are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery; they gashed themselves at the prostitute’s house.

Jeremiah 5:8 They are well-fed, eager stallions, each neighing after someone else’s wife.

Jeremiah 5:9 Should I not punish them for these things? This is what Yahveh declares. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

Jeremiah 5:10 Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them, but do not finish them off. Prune away her shoots, because they do not belong to Yahveh.

Jeremiah 5:11 They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, have extremely betrayed me. This is what Yahveh declares.

Jeremiah 5:12 They have contradicted Yahveh and insisted, “It won’t happen. Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine.”

Jeremiah 5:13 The prophets become only breath, for Yahveh’s word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them.

Jeremiah 5:14 Therefore, this is what Yahveh God of Armies says: Because you have spoken this word, notice, I am going to make my words become fire in your mouth. These people are the wood, and the fire will consume them.

Jeremiah 5:15 Notice I am about to bring a nation from far away against you, house of Israel. This is what Yahveh declares. It is an established nation, a nation from long ago, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

Jeremiah 5:16 Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all warriors.

Jeremiah 5:17 They will consume your harvest and your food. They will consume your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vines and your fig trees. With the sword they will destroy your fortified cities in which you trust.

Jeremiah 5:18 “But even in those days”– this is what Yahveh declares — “I will not finish you off.

Jeremiah 5:19 When people ask, ‘For what offense has Yahveh our God done all these things to us? ‘ You will respond to them, ‘Just like you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, that is how you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

freedom from God

Jeremiah thought he had found the reason for the rampant unfaithfulness of his people. He reckoned that he was only sampling a portion of the populace. He thought the reason there was so much disobedience and rebellion was that he was only looking among the poor and uneducated.

Then, he looked at the wealthy and sophisticated. He discovered that they too had “broken the yoke and torn off the chains.” The whole nation had set themselves free from God. And what a freedom it turned out to be. War, destruction, exile and bondage awaited them as a price for abandoning the God who had redeemed them.

All around me, I see the same thing Jeremiah saw. I see nations who were born from God, seeking to be unhindered by corruption and tyranny. But these same nations are now flagrantly boasting of their freedom from God. It is with pain and sorrow that I predict these nations are heading to the same place that Israel and Judah went. They were swallowed up by the nations around them. They wanted freedom from God, and God gave them what they wanted.

Lord, if by your mercy you can rescue a remnant from among us, please help us to be a part of that remnant. And help us to draw as many as we can to your ark of safety before the flood comes.

Posted in faithfulness, freedom, idolatry, judgment | Tagged Jeremiah 5 | Leave a comment