Jeremiah 16
(v.5) To the average reader, it seems that God is meting out harsh punishment to His people. But we must remember that God is the Creator of the whole universe...He can do as He pleases. With that in mind, God is loving and patient...but He's also just. He has pleaded with His people for generations, but they keep pushing Him away and getting worse.
Not only were the people worshipping idols made with human hands, but they were sacrificing their own babies to them! They tolerated and accepted evil behavior, thus being lukewarm and indifferent to anything contrary to God's Word. There is no hope for these kinds of people. It's one thing to be a sinner who is striving to obey God, and quite another to be deliberately disobeying God while accepting and living with the most vile and evil practices of this world.
(v.13) If we step back and think about the Holocaust of WW2, the Jews suffered so much. Not only were they persecuted because they're God's people, and the Nazis were driven by Satanic influences, but the Jews had completely stepped away from God. It's tough to write this since I know it will ruffle some feathers, but the Holocaust happened because of Israel's disobedience. If they hadn't, God would never have let them suffer. What the Nazis did was evil and wrong, but they were just another vehicle allowed by God to wake up God's people.
One bright spot of that dark time in history, was a Rabbi was asked by a young Jewish boy recently at a Holocaust memorial, "Where was God?" And the Rabbi answered, "He was working in the Gentiles." There are so many cases of Christians helping to hide the persecuted Jews, and of course, it was Gentiles who freed the concentration camps.
(v.17) With all that said, Israel is God's land, and its people are His people. They have the privilege to be the keepers of His Scriptures, but also the burden to show the world how to follow God. They failed most of the time, but one day, they will do it right when Yeshua (Jesus) comes back and rules and reigns in Jerusalem! One day the LORD will call home His Church (the Gentiles) and go back to work with the Jews again. That is why the gentile nations are not mentioned in the Bible...it's all focused on Israel.
Jeremiah 17
(v.8) Mankind is wicked to the core. We have a sin nature from the fall in the Garden of Eden. The only way out of it, is for Someone to be perfect, and die in our place to atone for our sins. Jesus did just that, and all we have to do in gratitude is follow Him and serve Him! That is a wonderful gift at the best bargain...free!
Jeremiah 18
(v.6) I teach my kids to think about this verse...we are literally in the Almighty's hands! He will never drop us or forsake us...we just have to keep our faith, and trust Him completely. Prov 3:5-6
(v.12) God tells the people that He will be their God and guide them if they obey, but if they don't then they will suffer. Instead of falling on their faces and asking for forgiveness, they just say, "That's too hard...we'll just live our lives the way we want." Do you know anyone like this today? I know I do, and I pray that the Spirit reaches them before it's too late.
Jeremiah 19
(v.4) The blood of the innocents is a reference to the sacrifice of children to these fake gods. Their actions were an abomination to God, and it's safe to believe that abortion falls in this category. If we stick to the Word of God, we can't abide in allowing abortion to be acceptable. It is murder, and we must work to eliminate it as a practice for birth control.
Jeremiah 20
(v.9) If we are true believers in God, then Jeremiah's words should ring true to us. We will be ridiculed and maybe even punished for speaking God's Word, but we must allow the Spirit to work in us. If we are God's children, then His Word should burn in us like it did Jeremiah.
Jeremiah goes on to have a "pity party" and feels sorry for even being born, but inside he knows that he was only doing what God wanted him to do. We will find more confrontation in our lives by living and speaking God's Word, but it's worth it, for the alternative is more people being lost in darkness.
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