Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

As playful kids, we would tease each other.  But when the teasing crossed the line, the next words from our mouths were, “okay, you’re going down.”  At that point the playful teasing became physical. 

We can just take so much until we can take it any longer, right? 

Slander, lies, abusive and perverted behaviors of the “uncalled and unauthorized prophets” of Jeremiah’s day have crossed the line with God. Their “everything will turn out fine” sermons thoroughly broke His heart for His people.  Don’t stop the partying, it’s all good, said the shepherd-leaders who butchered truth and scatter God’s sheep.  God intervenes and responds with “You’re going down.”

Jeremiah 23, The Message

An Authentic David-Branch

^1-4 “Doom to the shepherd-leaders who butcher and scatter my sheep!” God’s Decree. “So here is what I, God, Israel’s God, say to the shepherd-leaders who misled my people: ‘You’ve scattered my sheep. You’ve driven them off. You haven’t kept your eye on them. Well, let me tell you, I’m keeping my eye on you, keeping track of your criminal behavior. I’ll take over and gather what’s left of my sheep, gather them in from all the lands where I’ve driven them. I’ll bring them back where they belong, and they’ll recover and flourish. I’ll set shepherd-leaders over them who will take good care of them. They won’t live in fear or panic anymore. All the lost sheep rounded up!’ God’s Decree.

^5-6 “Time’s coming”—God’s Decree—
    “when I’ll establish a truly righteous David-Branch,
A ruler who knows how to rule justly.
    He’ll make sure of justice and keep people united.
In his time Judah will be secure again
    and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name they’ll give him:
    ‘God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.’

^7-8 “So watch for this. The time’s coming”—God’s Decree—“when no one will say, ‘As sure as God lives, the God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt,’ but, ‘As sure as God lives, the God who brought the descendants of Israel back from the north country and from the other countries where he’d driven them, so that they can live on their own good earth.’”

The “Everything Will Turn Out Fine” Sermon

⁹ My head is reeling,
    my limbs are limp,
I’m staggering like a drunk,
    seeing double from too much wine—
And all because of God,
    because of his holy words.

^10-12 Now for what God says regarding the lying prophets:

“Can you believe it? A country teeming with adulterers!
    faithless, promiscuous idolater-adulterers!
They’re a curse on the land.
    The land’s a wasteland.
Their unfaithfulness
    is turning the country into a cesspool,
Prophets and priests devoted to desecration.
    They have nothing to do with me as their God.
My very own Temple, mind you—
    mud-spattered with their crimes.” God’s Decree.
“But they won’t get by with it.
    They’ll find themselves on a slippery slope,
Careening into the darkness,
    somersaulting into the pitch-black dark.
I’ll make them pay for their crimes.
    It will be the Year of Doom.” God’s Decree.

* * *

^13-14 “Over in Samaria I saw prophets
    acting like silly fools—shocking!
They preached using that no-god Baal for a text,
    messing with the minds of my people.
And the Jerusalem prophets are even worse—horrible!—
    sex-driven, living a lie,
Subsidizing a culture of wickedness,
    and never giving it a second thought.
They’re as bad as those wretches in old Sodom,
    the degenerates of old Gomorrah.”

¹⁵ So here’s the Message to the prophets from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I’ll cook them a supper of maggoty meat
    with after-dinner drinks of strychnine.
The Jerusalem prophets are behind all this.
    They’re the cause of the godlessness polluting this country.”

* * *

^16-17 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Don’t listen to the sermons of the prophets.
    It’s all hot air. Lies, lies, and more lies.
They make it all up.
    Not a word they speak comes from me.
They preach their ‘Everything Will Turn Out Fine’ sermon
    to congregations with no taste for God,
Their ‘Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen to You’ sermon
    to people who are set in their own ways.

^18-20 “Have any of these prophets bothered to meet with me, the true God?
    bothered to take in what I have to say?
    listened to and then lived out my Word?
Look out! God’s hurricane will be let loose—
    my hurricane blast,
Spinning the heads of the wicked like tops!
    God’s raging anger won’t let up
Until I’ve made a clean sweep,
    completing the job I began.
When the job’s done,
    you’ll see that it’s been well done.

Quit the “God Told Me This” Kind of Talk

^21-22 “I never sent these prophets,
    but they ran anyway.
I never spoke to them,
    but they preached away.
If they’d have bothered to sit down and meet with me,
    they’d have preached my Message to my people.
They’d have gotten them back on the right track,
    gotten them out of their evil ruts.

* * *

^23-24 “Am I not a God near at hand”—God’s Decree—
    “and not a God far off?
Can anyone hide out in a corner
    where I can’t see him?”
        God’s Decree.
“Am I not present everywhere,
    whether seen or unseen?”
        God’s Decree.

* * *

^25-27 “I know what they’re saying, all these prophets who preach lies using me as their text, saying ‘I had this dream! I had this dream!’ How long do I have to put up with this? Do these prophets give two cents about me as they preach their lies and spew out their grandiose delusions? They swap dreams with one another, feed on each other’s delusive dreams, trying to distract my people from me just as their ancestors were distracted by the no-god Baal.

^28-29 “You prophets who do nothing but dream—
    go ahead and tell your silly dreams.
But you prophets who have a message from me—
    tell it truly and faithfully.
What does straw have in common with wheat?
    Nothing else is like God’s Decree.
Isn’t my Message like fire?” God’s Decree.
    “Isn’t it like a sledgehammer busting a rock?

^30-31 “I’ve had it with the ‘prophets’ who get all their sermons secondhand from each other. Yes, I’ve had it with them. They make up stuff and then pretend it’s a real sermon.

³² “Oh yes, I’ve had it with the prophets who preach the lies they dream up, spreading them all over the country, ruining the lives of my people with their cheap and reckless lies.

“I never sent these prophets, never authorized a single one of them. They do nothing for this people—nothing!” God’s Decree.

³³ “And anyone, including prophets and priests, who asks, ‘What’s God got to say about all this, what’s troubling him?’ tell him, ‘You, you’re the trouble, and I’m getting rid of you.’” God’s Decree.

³⁴ “And if anyone, including prophets and priests, goes around saying glibly ‘God’s Message! God’s Message!’ I’ll punish him and his family.

^35-36 “Instead of claiming to know what God says, ask questions of one another, such as ‘How do we understand God in this?’ But don’t go around pretending to know it all, saying ‘God told me this . . . God told me that. . . . ’ I don’t want to hear it anymore. Only the person I authorize speaks for me. Otherwise, my Message gets twisted, the Message of the living God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

^37-38 “You can ask the prophets, ‘How did God answer you? What did he tell you?’ But don’t pretend that you know all the answers yourselves and talk like you know it all. I’m telling you: Quit the ‘God told me this . . . God told me that . . . ’ kind of talk.

^39-40 “Are you paying attention? You’d better, because I’m about to take you in hand and throw you to the ground, you and this entire city that I gave to your ancestors. I’ve had it with the lot of you. You’re never going to live this down. You’re going down in history as a disgrace.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

1. Don’t mess with God.  Only write or speak what HE tells us. No opinions necessary.  “Instead of claiming to know what God says, ask questions of one another, such as How do we understand God in this?”  God’s Word says it all.  His Holy Spirit teaches us to understand what God is saying to us through His Word when we ask.
2. We do not know it all.  We never will.  We can’t handle all that God knows.  He gives us what we need, when we need it, so we can grow and mature at each step of understanding. 
3. “So, watch for this. The time’s coming”!  God would call His people from the nations of the world, bring them together in their land, purge them, and then send them their promised Messiah. No matter how dark the day may be, God sends the light of hope through His promises. The godly remnant in Judah must have been encouraged when they heard Jeremiah’s words, and the promises must have sustained them during the difficult days of the captivity.

“This is the name they’ll give him: God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.” 

We call Him Jesus—Savior and Lord of our lives!

We have choices.  We can go down in history in disgrace or go up with hope to hear God say, “well done, good and faithful servant”.  I choose God, how about you?

Lord,

I love you because you first loved me.  I choose you because you chose me.  Help me to speak only what you say in a spirit of love for you and each other.  May we help each other follow you in truth.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Walking with God is hard enough but walking away from God is to be avoided at all costs!  Walking away from God leads to all kinds of messes that become almost impossible to “clean up in aisle seven.” Almost.  I am a bit amazed by messes of our own making.  Think about it.  We wonder why we are in a mess without asking God why the mess has escalated.  We go about life on our own, happily singing “I Did It My Way,” and wonder why our world, as we know it and controlled, it is suddenly crumbling. 

We ask why our children are turning against us as they grow older as they seek activities of self that are self-soothing to them—just like we modeled in front of them with our behaviors.  We worry over finances that have seemed to run amuck with our spending more than we make because maybe along the way we thought, “I deserve this”, so I’ll buy it anyway—on credit.  Maybe we turned our eyes from what was precious to us to an enticing affair with someone who “understands more” what we are going through. Maybe as God’s leaders, the accolades from successful ministry made our pride swell to the point of being unresponsive to the needs of His people—or to God. 

Messes come in all sizes and shapes—just like humans.

The prophet Jeremiah went personally to the palace to deliver God’s message about the mess God’s people have made of their lives. Their sins are out of control.  Their messes beyond repair because they still refuse to come back to God.  Zedekiah was sitting on David’s throne, in David’s house of cedar (See 2 Samuel), benefiting from the covenant God had made with David, and yet the king wasn’t serving the Lord as David had served Him. Jeremiah repeated what he had preached before (yesterday’s passage, Jeremiah 21) with passion, warning, and judgement from God. It was time for the king and his nobles to obey God’s law and execute justice in the land. They were exploiting the poor and needy, shedding innocent blood, and refusing to repent and turn to God.

God’s leaders chose to stay in their mess.

Jeremiah 22, The Message

Walking Out on the Covenant of God

22 ^1-3 God’s orders: “Go to the royal palace and deliver this Message. Say, ‘Listen to what God says, O King of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you and your officials and all the people who go in and out of these palace gates. This is God’s Message: Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don’t take advantage of the homeless, the orphans, the widows. Stop the murdering!

^4-5 “‘If you obey these commands, then kings who follow in the line of David will continue to go in and out of these palace gates mounted on horses and riding in chariots—they and their officials and the citizens of Judah. But if you don’t obey these commands, then I swear—God’s Decree!—this palace will end up a heap of rubble.’”

* * *

^6-7 This is God’s verdict on Judah’s royal palace:

“I number you among my favorite places—
    like the lovely hills of Gilead,
    like the soaring peaks of Lebanon.
Yet I swear I’ll turn you into a wasteland,
    as empty as a ghost town.
I’ll hire a demolition crew,
    well-equipped with sledgehammers and wrecking bars,
Pound the country to a pulp
    and burn it all up.

^8-9 “Travelers from all over will come through here and say to one another, ‘Why would God do such a thing to this wonderful city?’ They’ll be told, ‘Because they walked out on the covenant of their God, took up with other gods and worshiped them.’”

Building a Fine House but Destroying Lives

¹⁰ Don’t weep over dead King Josiah.
    Don’t waste your tears.
Weep for his exiled son:
    He’s gone for good.
    He’ll never see home again.

^11-12 For this is God’s Word on Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah: “He’s gone from here, gone for good. He’ll die in the place they’ve taken him to. He’ll never see home again.”

* * *

^13-17 “Doom to him who builds palaces but bullies people,
    who makes a fine house but destroys lives,
Who cheats his workers
    and won’t pay them for their work,
Who says, ‘I’ll build me an elaborate mansion
    with spacious rooms and fancy windows.
I’ll bring in rare and expensive woods
    and the latest in interior decor.’
So, that makes you a king—
    living in a fancy palace?
Your father got along just fine, didn’t he?
    He did what was right and treated people fairly,
And things went well with him.
    He stuck up for the down-and-out,
And things went well for Judah.
    Isn’t this what it means to know me?”
        God’s Decree!
“But you’re blind and brainless.
    All you think about is yourself,
Taking advantage of the weak,
    bulldozing your way, bullying victims.”

^18-19 This is God’s epitaph on Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:
    “Doom to this man!
Nobody will shed tears over him,
    ‘Poor, poor brother!’
Nobody will shed tears over him,
    ‘Poor, poor master!’
They’ll give him a donkey’s funeral,
    drag him out of the city and dump him.

You’ve Made a Total Mess of Your Life

^20-23 “People of Jerusalem, climb a Lebanon peak and weep,
    climb a Bashan mountain and wail,
Climb the Abarim ridge and cry—
    you’ve made a total mess of your life.
I spoke to you when everything was going your way.
    You said, ‘I’m not interested.’
You’ve been that way as long as I’ve known you,
    never listened to a thing I said.
All your leaders will be blown away,
    all your friends end up in exile,
And you’ll find yourself in the gutter,
    disgraced by your evil life.
You big-city people thought you were so important,
    thought you were ‘king of the mountain’!
You’re soon going to be doubled up in pain,
    pain worse than the pangs of childbirth.

* * *

^24-26 “As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree—“even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, I’d pull you off and give you to those who are out to kill you, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, and then throw you, both you and your mother, into a foreign country, far from your place of birth. There you’ll both die.

²⁷ “You’ll be homesick, desperately homesick, but you’ll never get home again.”

^28-30 Is Jehoiachin a leaky bucket,
    a rusted-out pail good for nothing?
Why else would he be thrown away, he and his children,
    thrown away to a foreign place?
O land, land, land,
    listen to God’s Message!
This is God’s verdict:
“Write this man off as if he were childless,
    a man who will never amount to anything.
Nothing will ever come of his life.
    He’s the end of the line, the last of the kings.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The nation was decaying and dying while the king was admiring his palace—the spacious rooms, the large windows, and the decorated cedar paneled walls. Jehoiakim wasn’t much different from some modern politicians who profit from dishonest gain while ignoring the cries of the poor and needy.  The “house” built on the legacy of King David, a “man after God’s heart”, became a house of self-seeking sin with no mercy or justice.  Their enemy will be sent to take them away all because they refused to turn back to God.  They walked away from God’s covenant, “I will be your God and you will be my people.”  They walked away from under the wings of His protection. No God, no hope.

Turning from God to follow self-driven, opposite of God behaviors, will never go well for anyone.  God will allow the rebellious to live with the consequences, without hope, without His help until we turn back to God.  God, who loves us first and best and knows exactly what we need when we need it, intervenes right in the middle of our messes when we turn our hearts back to Him.  He moves on our behalf when we surrender to Him.  He is always at work.

Got a mess?  In a mess?  There is Hope for us, the rebellious, the mess-makers of this world!  God sent His One and Only Son to become the Way-Maker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Jesus Christ, to save us from ourselves and the messes we have created.  Jesus took our punishment for our sins.  He has paid the price that we owe.  Debt is paid in full.  How relieving those words are to hear from a mess-maker, right?

The question is this, “Do I really believe God sent His Son to do this for me?”

Believe, repent of the mess, look up and be filled with Hope who is the person of Jesus Christ.  Allow His Holy Spirit to transform your mess into a message of testimony, giving Him all the glory for the transformation.  Leave self-will for God’s will.  Jesus changes everything.

Or am I choosing to stay in my mess? That is a choice we must make.  But know this, messes can be cleaned up.  There is no mess that is so big that God cannot clean up.  Know also, that we can do nothing without Him in the cleaning process.  We can do all things with Him, guided by Him. 

But, answer honestly before diving into this new life of Hope with change, “Do I really believe what God says is really real?  If the answer is yes, then let the adventure begin!  

Lord,

I believe.  I surrender to You and Your best for me.  Clean me up and make me holy, set apart, ready to follow you.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“Doom, despair and agony on me…If I had no bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…”

This is the message sung by the actor/singers of Hee Haw, televised many years ago.  It was sung at least once each show with a “kick” at the end.  We laugh, but how many times do we come to the end of our ropes feeling gloomy and doomy when we have had enough “bad luck” happening to us or we are living the consequences of our behaviors?

We hear you, Jeremiah!  We hear your weeping and weariness.  We also know you will finish the work God began in you.  Yes, Jeremiah is ready to give up but the “fire of the message” cannot be put out within him.  “All I get for my God-warnings are insults and contempt. But if I say, “Forget it! No more God-Messages from me!” The words are fire in my belly, a burning in my bones.

I love that about this “weeping prophet”, Jeremiah.  He is honest but will not give up.

Jeremiah 20, The Message

Life’s Been Nothing but Trouble and Tears

^1-5 The priest Pashur son of Immer was the senior priest in God’s Temple. He heard Jeremiah preach this sermon. He whipped Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate of God’s Temple. The next day Pashur came and let him go. Jeremiah told him, “God has a new name for you: not Pashur but Danger-Everywhere, because God says, ‘You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you. All your friends are going to get killed in battle while you stand there and watch. What’s more, I’m turning all of Judah over to the king of Babylon to do whatever he likes with them—haul them off into exile, kill them at whim. Everything worth anything in this city, property and possessions along with everything in the royal treasury—I’m handing it all over to the enemy. They’ll rummage through it and take what they want back to Babylon.

⁶ “‘And you, Pashur, you and everyone in your family will be taken prisoner into exile—that’s right, exile in Babylon. You’ll die and be buried there, you and all your cronies to whom you preached your lies.’”

* * *

^7-10 You pushed me into this, God, and I let you do it.
    You were too much for me.
And now I’m a public joke.
    They all poke fun at me.
Every time I open my mouth
    I’m shouting, “Murder!” or “Rape!”
And all I get for my God-warnings
    are insults and contempt.
But if I say, “Forget it!
    No more God-Messages from me!”
The words are fire in my belly,
    a burning in my bones.
I’m worn out trying to hold it in.
    I can’t do it any longer!
Then I hear whispering behind my back:
    “There goes old ‘Danger-Everywhere.’ Shut him up! Report him!”
Old friends watch, hoping I’ll fall flat on my face:
    “One misstep and we’ll have him. We’ll get rid of him for good!”

¹¹ But God, a most fierce warrior, is at my side.
    Those who are after me will be sent sprawling—
Slapstick buffoons falling all over themselves,
    a spectacle of humiliation no one will ever forget.

¹² Oh, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, no one fools you.
    You see through everyone, everything.
I want to see you pay them back for what they’ve done.
    I rest my case with you.

¹³ Sing to God! All praise to God!
    He saves the weak from the grip of the wicked.

* * *

^14-18 Curse the day
    I was born!
The day my mother bore me—
    a curse on it, I say!
And curse the man who delivered
    the news to my father:
“You’ve got a new baby—a boy baby!”
    (How happy it made him.)
Let that birth notice be blacked out,
    deleted from the records,
And the man who brought it haunted to his death
    with the bad news he brought.
He should have killed me before I was born,
    with that womb as my tomb,
My mother pregnant for the rest of her life
    with a baby dead in her womb.
Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?
    Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears,
    and what’s coming is more of the same.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

What before had been threats now became a reality. Pashhur, son of Immer, assistant to the high priest and chief security officer for the temple, didn’t like what Jeremiah was saying; therefore, he had Jeremiah arrested, beaten, and put into the stocks until the next day. The stocks were located at a prominent place in the temple area, in order to add shame to pain. Spending all night with his body bent and twisted would have been terribly uncomfortable, and adding the pain of the beating, we can imagine how Jeremiah must have felt.

This is the last of Jeremiah’s recorded “doom, despair and agony on me” laments, a human blending of grief and joy, prayer and despair, praise and perplexity. When we remember the sensitive nature of this man, we aren’t surprised that he would be on the mountaintop one minute and in the deepest valley the next.

Jeremiah, however, lived above his moods and did the will of God regardless of how he felt.  Can we say that about our own lives of service to God and for God?  How honest are we when we pray to God about our current situation?  God sees our hearts.  God is okay with honesty, if fact, delights in it.  God looks for honest hearts with “fire in the bones” to deliver his message of truth through to the world.  Are we that person?

Growing in the going.  God had warned His servant that the demands of ministry would increase and he would have to grow in order to keep going. What Jeremiah’s ministry was doing for the nation was important, but even more important was what Jeremiah’s ministry was doing for Jeremiah. As we serve the Lord, our capacity for ministry should increase and enable us to do much more than we ever thought we could do.

Faith doesn’t ignore problems; it faces them honestly and seeks God’s help in solving them. 

Lord,

Paul’s prayer message to the church at Ephesus is my prayer thought this morning: “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!” 

Have it your way, Lord.  To you be the glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen

We all know that visuals pique the interest and attention of the minds of listeners.  As a former teacher, visuals were the lifeblood to helping students discover new ideas while tying learning to what they already knew.  To merely tell students was one level. To show and tell students was the next level up.  To include listening students in the process took them to an even higher level of understanding and assimilating the concepts you are trying to teach.  Jesus, the Master Teacher, taught us how to use this method of teaching and learning who received it from God, His Father and ours who believe.

God tells Jeremiah to go buy a clay pot, preach what He tells him, then smash the pot in front of the leaders, (those who opposed Jeremiah), as a great visual to solidify understanding.  Read to the end to see the outcome.

Jeremiah 19, The Message

Smashing the Clay Pot

^1-2 God said to me, “Go, buy a clay pot. Then get a few leaders from the people and a few of the leading priests and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, just outside the Potsherd Gate, and preach there what I tell you.

^3-5 “Say, ‘Listen to God’s Word, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem! This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. I’m about to bring doom crashing down on this place. Oh, and will ears ever ring! Doom—because they’ve walked off and left me, and made this place strange by worshiping strange gods, gods never heard of by them, their parents, or the old kings of Judah. Doom—because they have massacred innocent people. Doom—because they’ve built altars to that no-god Baal, and burned their own children alive in the fire as offerings to Baal, an atrocity I never ordered, never so much as hinted at!

^6-9 “‘And so it’s payday, and soon’—God’s Decree!—‘this place will no longer be known as Topheth or Valley of Ben-hinnom, but Massacre Meadows. I’m canceling all the plans Judah and Jerusalem had for this place, and I’ll have them killed by their enemies. I’ll stack their dead bodies to be eaten by carrion crows and wild dogs. I’ll turn this city into such a museum of atrocities that anyone coming near will be shocked speechless by the savage brutality. The people will turn into cannibals. Dehumanized by the pressure of the enemy siege, they’ll eat their own children! Yes, they’ll eat one another, family and friends alike.’

^10-13 “Say all this, and then smash the pot in front of the men who have come with you. Then say, ‘This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: I’ll smash this people and this city like a man who smashes a clay pot into so many pieces it can never be put together again. They’ll bury bodies here in Topheth until there’s no more room. And the whole city will become a Topheth. The city will be turned by people and kings alike into a center for worshiping the star gods and goddesses, turned into an open grave, the whole city an open grave, stinking like a sewer, like Topheth.’”

^14-15 Then Jeremiah left Topheth, where God had sent him to preach the sermon, and took his stand in the court of God’s Temple and said to the people, “This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies to you: ‘Warning! Danger! I’m bringing down on this city and all the surrounding towns the doom that I have pronounced. They’re set in their ways and won’t budge. They refuse to do a thing I say.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Today the world is not budging on many issues of faith, justice, mercy, and grace, with a version of love being humanized and demoralized.  For people who follow the prince of this world and the father of lies love is demanding.  They demand that love is only what it does for me.  Love is manipulating others to get what you want from them.  Love is shallow, tainted, and merely a way for sexual desires to be fulfilled.  Love is jealous, unkind, self-seeking, demanding it’s own ways, impatient and full of hate.  All these messages and behaviors are not of God.  It is the opposite of God.

At the command of the Lord, Jeremiah made a second trip to the potter’s shop, this time as a customer and not a spectator, and he took with him some of the Jewish elders. Knowing their evil plots against him, Jeremiah showed great faith by being willing to walk with them and then to declare in their very presence that disaster was coming to the land because of their sins. Obviously, his prayer to the Lord had brought him peace and courage.  Jeremiah bravely did what God told him to be, say and do.

God so loved the world that He gave His Son.  God sent His Son to seek and to save the lost living under bondage in a very dark world.  No more smashing of pots to show how the world had gone mad.  Instead, New Plan came to visualization to restore the relationship between God and mankind.  Approximately four centuries after Jeremiah spoke and smashed pots, God gave the best visual of His love for all to see—the greatest visual of all times!  Jesus visualized for the world who love is and how to love like God loves us. God’s prophets spoke of His coming without completely understanding it for themselves.  God sent His Son to be born of a virgin with her espoused husband helping her deliver Him who would someday deliver them from all sin. 

Jesus came to illustrate, demonstrate, and communicate what God is like, who He is, what He does as only the Son of God could possibly do.  God is love.  Jesus demonstrated that love which is unlike human love.  Believing in God, by believing in Jesus, helps us to grow in HIS love which is opposite of what the world has communicated.

Paul, apostle of Jesus, communicates the love of God, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (I Corinthians 13:4-8).

Jesus illustrated God’s love in living a life directed by God.  Jesus demonstrated the extent of God’s love by washing dirty feet (John 13) then laying down His life for ours on a cross to pay the debt of sin. Jesus communicated the love of God with words and actions.

Jesus says to his follower…love like I have loved you.

Can nations and individuals sin so greatly that even God can’t restore them? Yes, apparently so as an outcome of their own making. As long as the Clay is pliable in the hands of the Potter, He can make it again if it’s marred, but when the clay becomes hard, it’s too late to reform it. “They’re set in their ways and won’t budge. They refuse to do a thing I say.”  The clay is too hard to make new.

Lord,

May Your love prevail in our lives.  May we never get set in our own ways, not budging, not yielding to your best work that you want to create in us.  May we turn to you, offer our very lives as an offering, so that we may discover daily your perfect and pleasing will for each one of us. May we walk in Your love.  May we illustrate, demonstrate, and communicate your love which each breathe we take and each step we make…

In Jesus Name, Amen

My mom had a unique way of always being right in her advice to me about certain life choices.  I would present an option; she would advise of the pitfalls of that option.  I would do it anyway, because as a young woman in my early twenties, I thought I knew exactly what was best for me.  After all, I’m twenty! 

It only took days to figure out that the option I chose did, indeed, have pitfalls.  I tried to speak positively about them, deny them and ignore them.  But the pitfalls became too big to get around, over or through.  I had to deal with them.  Worst of all, I had to admit she was right. 

We humans are like that.  We think we can go our own way without consequences.  We think we know it all.  When we are proven wrong, we lie about what is right.  We blame others.  We look the other way.  We cover up.  We either repent, turn back to the reality of who and what is right—or not.

God has a way of turning the bad choices we make into good lessons for living life while growing his character in us.  But do we let him?  If we really believed, we would let Him.

Jeremiah 18, The Message

To Worship the Big Lie

18 ^1-2 God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.”

^3-4 So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.

^5-10 Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?” God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.

¹¹ “So, tell the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem my Message: ‘Danger! I’m shaping doom against you, laying plans against you. Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’

¹² “But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’”

* * *

^13-17 God’s Message:

“Ask around.
    Survey the godless nations.
Has anyone heard the likes of this?
    Virgin Israel has become a slut!
Does snow disappear from the Lebanon peaks?
    Do alpine streams run dry?
But my people have left me
    to worship the Big Lie.
They’ve gotten off the track,
    the old, well-worn trail,
And now bushwhack through underbrush
    in a tangle of roots and vines.
Their land’s going to end up a mess—
    a fool’s memorial to be spit on.
Travelers passing through
    will shake their heads in disbelief.
I’ll scatter my people before their enemies,
    like autumn leaves in a high wind.
On their day of doom, they’ll stare at my back as I walk away,
    catching not so much as a glimpse of my face.”

* * *

¹⁸ Some of the people said, “Come on, let’s cook up a plot against Jeremiah. We’ll still have the priests to teach us the law, wise counselors to give us advice, and prophets to tell us what God has to say. Come on, let’s discredit him so we don’t have to put up with him any longer.”

^19-23 And I said to God:

“God, listen to me!
    Just listen to what my enemies are saying.
Should I get paid evil for good?
    That’s what they’re doing. They’ve made plans to kill me!
Remember all the times I stood up for them before you,
    speaking up for them,
    trying to soften your anger?
But enough! Let their children starve!
    Let them be massacred in battle!
Let their wives be childless and widowed,
    their friends die and their proud young men be killed.
Let cries of panic sound from their homes
    as you surprise them with war parties!
They’re all set to lynch me.
    The noose is practically around my neck!
But you know all this, God.
    You know they’re determined to kill me.
Don’t whitewash their crimes,
    don’t overlook a single sin!
Round the bunch of them up before you.
    Strike while the iron of your anger is hot!”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

OPTION ONE:  God, our creator, the “potter of our being,” who knew us before we were born, loves us and wants the best life for us—forever!  He is constantly molding and shaping us to be all he created us to be for His glory and for our eternal good.

OPTION TWO:  The world, led by the prince of darkness, the father of lies, the one who leads all to death, wants to destroy us.

These are the two choices.  Our options have outcomes.

If we really believed in God, Jesus as Savior, His Holy Spirit as our guide; we would never turn our backs on his wisdom, his ways, his leading and most of all his redeeming forgiveness of all our sins.

If we really believed God; we would go to Him first—not last when life is falling apart.

If we really believed in God’s relentless, unconditional love; we would love each other more deeply.

If we really believed in Jesus’ laying down his life for ours; our hope would be unshakable!

If we really believed in God’s Holy Spirit; we would listen to his advice and obey quickly.

If we really believed in God’s power; we would go through tough times with faith and assurance that nothing is impossible with God.

If we really believed in Jesus’ words; fear of the world would be taken from our being and even our vocabulary and replaced by a deep, abiding, forever love.  “Love drives out fear.”

If we really believed that God knows us and sees us; we would live this day knowing, without a doubt, He is with us, helping us.

If we really believed in what Jesus said; we would be getting ready for Jesus’ return to earth to claim his own.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. –Jesus (John 14:1-3, NIV)

Lord,

I believe.  I really believe you and what you say.  I really believe that you are coming back and, in the meantime, you are with me right now surrounding me with your love, care and compassion.  So, believing, I will live this day…In Jesus Name, Amen

“We all see it!” As a former elementary teacher, I grew weary of all the untrue tattling stories of who did what to whom on the playground or in the classroom.  The students misbehave right under your nose thinking the teacher didn’t really see what they just did.  Wrong.

As you mature in your teaching and listen to the students, you learn quickly that not all can be trusted.  Most students tell you the first thing that pops into mind, off the tops of their heads, in a panic, so they can avoid trouble at all costs.  Because I prayed for my students, others teachers, and myself daily, God helped me get to the heart of the matter of what I observed to see the truth of what was really happening.  God helped me deal with weird situations, tedious relationships, and challenging circumstances because I asked for His wisdom—hourly at times!  If I didn’t ask for God’s help, what I saw and heard was clouded by my own human judgement of assumptions and presumptions which I learned quickly is not reliable—foolish even!

On the “playground” of life, God gets right to the heart of the matter with Judah through Jeremiah, his spokesperson, sounding the fire alarm, making them aware of the outcomes of their sins.   Truth is seen.  Hearts are examined closely by God.  Minds are challenged to take God seriously—but do they?

Jeremiah 17, The Message

The Heart Is Hopelessly Dark and Deceitful

^1-2 “Judah’s sin is engraved
    with a steel chisel,
A steel chisel with a diamond point—
    engraved on their granite hearts,
    engraved on the stone corners of their altars.
The evidence against them is plain to see:
    sex-and-religion altars and sacred sex shrines
Anywhere there’s a grove of trees,
    anywhere there’s an available hill.

^3-4 “I’ll use your mountains as roadside stands
    for giving away everything you have.
All your ‘things’ will serve as reparations
    for your sins all over the country.
You’ll lose your gift of land,
    The inheritance I gave you.
I’ll make you slaves of your enemies
    in a far-off and strange land.
My anger is hot and blazing and fierce,
    and no one will put it out.”

* * *

^5-6 God’s Message:

“Cursed is the strong one
    who depends on mere humans,
Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone
    and sets God aside as dead weight.
He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,
    out of touch with the good earth.
He lives rootless and aimless
    in a land where nothing grows.

^7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
    the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees replanted in Eden,
    putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
    never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
    bearing fresh fruit every season.

* * *

^9-10 “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
    a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
    and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
    I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
    not as they pretend to be.”

* * *

¹¹ Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs
    in another bird’s nest
Is the person who gets rich by cheating.
    When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed.
What a fool he’ll look like then!

* * *

^12-13 From early on your Sanctuary was set high,
    a throne of glory, exalted!
O God, you’re the hope of Israel.
    All who leave you end up as fools,
Deserters with nothing to show for their lives,
    who walk off from God, fountain of living waters—
    and wind up dead!

* * *

^14-18 God, pick up the pieces.
    Put me back together again.
    You are my praise!
Listen to how they talk about me:
    “So where’s this ‘Word of God’?
    We’d like to see something happen!”
But it wasn’t my idea to call for Doomsday.
    I never wanted trouble.
You know what I’ve said.
    It’s all out in the open before you.
Don’t add to my troubles.
    Give me some relief!
Let those who harass me be harassed, not me.
    Let them be disgraced, not me.
Bring down upon them the day of doom.
    Lower the boom. Boom!

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

^19-20 God’s Message to me: “Go stand in the People’s Gate, the one used by Judah’s kings as they come and go, and then proceed in turn to all the gates of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘Listen, you kings of Judah, listen to God’s Message—and all you people who go in and out of these gates, you listen!

^21-23 “‘This is God’s Message. Be careful, if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there. Don’t use the Sabbath to do business as usual. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. They never did it, as you know. They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business, refusing to be guided or instructed by me.

^24-26 “‘But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual. Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots. The people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem will continue to pass through them, too. Jerusalem will always be filled with people. People will stream in from all over Judah, from the province of Benjamin, from the Jerusalem suburbs, from foothills and mountains and deserts. They’ll come to worship, bringing all kinds of offerings—animals, grains, incense, expressions of thanks—into the Sanctuary of God.

²⁷ “‘But if you won’t listen to me, won’t keep the Sabbath holy, won’t quit using the Sabbath for doing your own work, busily going in and out of the city gates on your self-important business, then I’ll burn the gates down. In fact, I’ll burn the whole city down, palaces and all, with a fire nobody will be able to put out!’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We discover God gives us two choices—to be cursed or blessed!

1. “Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight.  He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.”
2. “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.”

We get to choose.  Pray, then choose wisely.  Blessed or cursed?  Stick with the decision.

God sees our hearts and knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows the motivation of our hearts.  He looks all over the world, seeking those whose hearts are completely His.

Believe, repent of sins, be saved, be blessed.  Being blessed by God means He is growing His character traits in you to “bear fresh fruit” for every season of life.  The traits, you ask?  See Galatians 5.  Here is the summary, “…the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”  (Galatians 5:22-26, NLT)

Lord,

I choose you and love you with all that is in me because you loved me first and chose me to be your child from the beginning.  Thank you for the privilege to be yours with my name written on your hand!  Thank you for the assurance that your love never fails and great is your faithfulness to me.  I cannot turn away from your gift of grace to me. There is no one like you.  Everything else is foolishness. Thank you, thank you, thank you for not giving up on me.  Continue to grow and mature me in your love so that I may bear the precious fruits of your character.

In Jesus Name, Amen

In a burst of faith and prophetic joy, Jeremiah saw not only the gathering of the Jewish remnant but also the coming of the Gentile nations from the ends of the earth to worship the true and living God of Israel. Isaiah had this same vision (Isaiah 2:1–5; 11:10–16; 45:14), and so did Zechariah (Zech. 8:20–23). The Gentiles will confess their sin of idolatry and admit that the idols were worthless. Then they will be taught to know the Lord.

Meanwhile, the church’s task today is to spread the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth so that sinners might abandon their false gods, whatever they may be, and trust in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

What or who are the false gods that keep us distracted from really knowing God—I AM?  There are many gods that keep us moving away from God.  Time and thought spent amassing wealth, time spent alone to forget about the pressures we put on ourselves, time to achieve to please others, and other time factors to name a few that have become gods to us. 

Our time is guarded and has become even more important than our money.  We would rather give money than take someone to eat a meal.  We want the brightest, newest, most powerful gadget so we can feel important.  We want the illusion of a lot of friends but with little time spent with our best friend, Jesus who will lead us away from all the gods this world offers to a deeper, more challenging life with Him.

Are we close to the attitudes and lifestyles of the people Jeremiah is warning?  Are we becoming like the “crowd” of apathetics and idol worshipers to whom Jeremiah is speaking, telling them God’s prophetic message of the outcome of living life this way with how it will affect generations to come?

Jeremiah 16, The Message

Can Mortals Manufacture Gods?

16 God’s Message to me:

^2-4 “Jeremiah, don’t get married. Don’t raise a family here. I have signed the death warrant on all the children born in this country, the mothers who bear them and the fathers who beget them—an epidemic of death. Death unlamented, the dead unburied, dead bodies decomposing and stinking like dung, all the killed and starved corpses served up as meals for carrion crows and mongrel dogs!”

^5-7 God continued: “Don’t enter a house where there’s mourning. Don’t go to the funeral. Don’t sympathize. I’ve quit caring about what happens to this people.” God’s Decree. “No more loyal love on my part, no more compassion. The famous and obscure will die alike here, unlamented and unburied. No funerals will be conducted, no one will give them a second thought, no one will care, no one will say, ‘I’m sorry,’ no one will so much as offer a cup of tea, not even for the mother or father.

⁸ “And if there happens to be a feast celebrated, don’t go there either to enjoy the festivities.”

⁹ God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch this! I’m about to banish smiles and laughter from this place. No more brides and bridegrooms celebrating. And I’m doing it in your lifetime, before your very eyes.

^10-13 “When you tell this to the people and they ask, ‘Why is God talking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We’re not criminals, after all. What have we done to our God to be treated like this?’ tell them this: ‘It’s because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn’t do a thing I told them. And you’re even worse! Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I’m getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart’s content. Rest assured, I won’t bother you anymore.’

* * *

^14-15 “On the other hand, don’t miss this: The time is coming when no one will say any longer, ‘As sure as God lives, the God who delivered Israel from Egypt.’ What they’ll say is, ‘As sure as God lives, the God who brought Israel back from the land of the north, brought them back from all the places where he’d scattered them.’ That’s right, I’m going to bring them back to the land I first gave to their ancestors.

* * *

^16-17 “Now, watch for what comes next: I’m going to assemble a bunch of fishermen.” God’s Decree! “They’ll go fishing for my people and pull them in for judgment. Then I’ll send out a party of hunters, and they’ll hunt them out in all the mountains, hills, and caves. I’m watching their every move. I haven’t lost track of a single one of them, neither them nor their sins.

¹⁸ “They won’t get by with a thing. They’ll pay double for everything they did wrong. They’ve made a complete mess of things, littering their lives with their obscene no-gods, leaving piles of stinking god-junk all over the place.”

^19-20 God, my strength, my stronghold,
    my safe retreat when trouble descends:
The godless nations will come
    from earth’s four corners, saying,
“Our ancestors lived on lies,
    useless illusions, all smoke.”
Can mortals manufacture gods?
    Their factories turn out no-gods!

²¹ “Watch closely now. I’m going to teach these wrongheaded people.
    Starting right now, I’m going to teach them
Who I am and what I do,
    teach them the meaning of my name, God—‘I Am.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

• It breaks the heart of God to see us turn our backs on His love, mercy, grace along with abundant living with blessing upon blessing from Him.
• He is God—I AM.  We are not.  There is no one like our God.
• Believe Jesus redeemed us, repent of sins, be saved forever.  Love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls.  Love each other the way He loves us.  Anything less is self-seeking idol worship.  Find and follow Jesus.

Lord,

I’m sorry for the distractions I fall for in seeking to please others and myself instead of you.  Forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me.  Deliver us from the enemy along with his sly, evil ways meant to draw us away from you, bring us down, and count us out.  Help us to overcome and be overcomers with you as we live this life on earth.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

After reading this conversation between God and Jeremiah, I understand more why he is called the weeping prophet.  He weeps for what is going on now, what went on in the past and what is going to happen to God’s “chosen frozen”.  God’s chosen have turned their backs on God.  They are frozen in selfishness and refuse to listen to him.  God will allow his people to go through terrible times because of their stubborn “I’ll do it my way” attitudes. 

Jeremiah is now telling God he is tired of the mocking and ridicule he is taking for telling God’s truth.  He is tired of not being taken seriously.  “Just look at the abuse I’m taking!”  “AND I never joined their parties, laughed or had any fun,” whines Jeremiah. He tells God he is “seething” from their sin—like God—so it’s your fault, God, I feel this way.  Jeremiah then goes over the edge and tells God He is only a mirage—seen only in his imagination.  Yikes, dude!   Cheap whine is dripping from the lips of Jeremiah—God’s called prophet to speak only God’s words.

Are we whiners as followers of Jesus?  Why, yes, we are!  What brings on this whine?  Do we whine about how people treat us for speaking truth?  Do we try to judge each other’s behaviors while we are sinning as judges?  Do we think we are better humans for knowing God and boast about that it?  But then, when we discover we are not, whine covers our words to God in prayer?  Do we shout at God, “not fair” when we are become weary of “doing good” on our own power by our own methods?

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, says Paul, to those who are boasting of their faith.  We do not make things right.  Only God is righteous who sent His righteous Son to make us right with Him by dying for our sins.  See Romans 3 for the big picture of glory!

God does not like cheap whine.

Jeremiah 15, The Message

^1-2 Then God said to me: “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel stood here and made their case, I wouldn’t feel a thing for this people. Get them out of here. Tell them to get lost! And if they ask you, ‘So where do we go?’ tell them God says,

“‘If you’re assigned to die, go and die;
    if assigned to war, go and get killed;
If assigned to starve, go starve;
    if assigned to exile, off to exile you go!’

^3-4 “I’ve arranged for four kinds of punishment: death in battle, the corpses dropped off by killer dogs, the rest picked clean by vultures, the bones gnawed by hyenas. They’ll be a sight to see, a sight to shock the whole world—and all because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah and all he did in Jerusalem.

⁵ “Who do you think will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?
    Who do you think will waste tears on you?
Who will bother to take the time to ask,
    ‘So, how are things going?’

^6-9 “You left me, remember?” God’s Decree.
    “You turned your back and walked out.
So I will grab you and hit you hard.
    I’m tired of letting you off the hook.
I threw you to the four winds
    and let the winds scatter you like leaves.
I made sure you’ll lose everything,
    since nothing makes you change.
I created more widows among you
    than grains of sand on the ocean beaches.
At noon mothers will get the news
    of their sons killed in action.
Sudden anguish for the mothers—
    all those terrible deaths.
A mother of seven falls to the ground,
    gasping for breath,
Robbed of her children in their prime.
    Her sun sets at high noon!
Then I’ll round up any of you that are left alive
    and see that you’re killed by your enemies.”
        God’s Decree.

Giving Everything Away for Nothing

^10-11 Unlucky mother—that you had me as a son,
    given the unhappy job of indicting the whole country!
I’ve never hurt or harmed a soul,
    and yet everyone is out to get me.
But, God knows, I’ve done everything I could to help them,
    prayed for them and against their enemies.
I’ve always been on their side, trying to stave off disaster.
    God knows how I’ve tried!

* * *

^12-14 “O Israel, O Judah, what are your chances
    against the iron juggernaut from the north?
In punishment for your sins, I’m giving away
    everything you’ve got, giving it away for nothing.
I’ll make you slaves to your enemies
    in a strange and far-off land.
My anger is blazing and fierce,
    burning in hot judgment against you.”

* * *

^15-18 You know where I am, God! Remember what I’m doing here!
    Take my side against my detractors.
Don’t stand back while they ruin me.
    Just look at the abuse I’m taking!
When your words showed up, I ate them—
    swallowed them whole. What a feast!
What delight I took in being yours,
    O God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

I never joined the party crowd
    in their laughter and their fun.
Led by you, I went off by myself.
    You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething.
But why, why this chronic pain,
    this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight?
You’re nothing, God, but a mirage,
    a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!

* * *

^19-21 This is how God answered me:

“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.
    Then you’ll stand tall before me.
Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.
    Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.

Let your words change them.
    Don’t change your words to suit them.
I’ll turn you into a steel wall,
    a thick steel wall, impregnable.
They’ll attack you but won’t put a dent in you
    because I’m at your side, defending and delivering.”
        God’s Decree.
“I’ll deliver you from the grip of the wicked.
    I’ll get you out of the clutch of the ruthless.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

After Jeremiah served his cheap whine to God, God responded:

“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.
    Then you’ll stand tall before me.
Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.
    Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.”

“Let your words change them.
    Don’t change your words to suit them.”

Our response?

Know God.  Know Truth.  Know real love.

Know Jesus redeemed us and made us right with God.  We cannot and did not do that for ourselves.  We have nothing to boast or whine about on earth.  Only God who loved us sent Jesus to save us.  Done.  Finished.

Believe and be saved forever.  Speak Truth in love—with no whine.

Lord,

We are guilty of whining when circumstances become challenging and loved ones turn away from your truth.  Forgive us.  We love still because of your love in us that is unconditional.  We love you with all that is in us.  We are learning to simply obey You and leave the rest to You.  Help us to “stand tall” before you and not stoop to cheap whining.  May we always speak Your Truth when you say, in the right Spirit, full of your love flowing through us.

In Jesus Name, Amen

My ancestors who came to Oklahoma to begin a new life did well until the drought of monumental proportions came and stayed.  No rain with hot winds caused problems beyond our modern thinking.  The precious top soil blew away leaving layers of sand.  This sand would pierce your skin and sting your eyes in blowing storms.  These sand storms caused sand and dust to silt through all the windows and doors.  My relatives told stories of putting wet cloths over their faces to go outside to do their chores.  They had to put bedsheets and other linens around windows and doors just to keep out the blowing, dry sand as best they could. 

The drought led to no growing season which led to losing their farms because of the debt incurred from unproduced crops to pay the bills.  Drought is caused by absolutely no rain, no sign of rain coming, with no hope of the situation getting better.  Many of our ancestors, who survived the illnesses from living through the drought and resulting “Dust Bowl” conditions, moved on to California and Arizona where they began again.  Some came back, but some did not.

Drought is beyond difficult.  We must have food, water, air, and shelter to survive. If any one of these basic needs is not met, then humans cannot survive. 

But what impressed me most in the stories my relatives told who lived through the Dust Bowl days was the evidence of their strong faith in God.  Faith in God, our Creator is the most important basic need we have.  The need to need God was put into our DNA by God.  Faith in God led these “settlers and pioneers” to deal with the conditions, pray, then follow God’s plan to survive and thrive through it all.  They gave God glory for helping them through difficult times!

The drought Jeremiah speaks about was brought on by the LACK of faith in God.  The lack of faith drove God’s people to idol worship which led to perverted sinful behaviors.  This grieved God because of his faithful love for them.  Jeremiah grieved with God. God wants to give His best to us.  But when we turn our backs on the One who loves us most, we suffer with the world through all kinds of consequences because of the drought of faith that leads to unresolved sin that eventually leads to death. 

Jeremiah 14, The Message

Time and Again We’ve Betrayed God

14 ^1-6 God’s Message that came to Jeremiah regarding the drought:

“Judah weeps,
    her cities mourn.
The people fall to the ground, moaning,
    while sounds of Jerusalem’s sobs rise up, up.
The rich people sent their servants for water.
    They went to the cisterns, but the cisterns were dry.
They came back with empty buckets,
    wringing their hands, shaking their heads.
All the farm work has stopped.
    Not a drop of rain has fallen.
The farmers don’t know what to do.
    They wring their hands, they shake their heads.
Even the doe abandons her fawn in the field
    because there is no grass—
Eyes glazed over, on her last legs,
    nothing but skin and bones.”

^7-9 We know we’re guilty. We’ve lived bad lives—
    but do something, God. Do it for your sake!
Time and time again we’ve betrayed you.
    No doubt about it—we’ve sinned against you.
Hope of Israel! Our only hope!
    Israel’s last chance in this trouble!
Why are you acting like a tourist,
    taking in the sights, here today and gone tomorrow?
Why do you just stand there and stare,
    like someone who doesn’t know what to do in a crisis?
But God, you are, in fact, here, here with us!
    You know who we are—you named us!
    Don’t leave us without a leg to stand on.

¹⁰ Then God said of these people:

“Since they loved to wander this way and that,
    never giving a thought to where they were going,
I will now have nothing more to do with them—
    except to note their guilt and punish their sins.”

The Killing Fields

^11-12 God said to me, “Don’t pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won’t listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I’ll not accept them. I’m finishing them off with war and famine and disease.”

¹³ I said, “But Master, God! Their preachers have been telling them that everything is going to be all right—no war and no famine—that there’s nothing to worry about.”

¹⁴ Then God said, “These preachers are liars, and they use my name to cover their lies. I never sent them, I never commanded them, and I don’t talk with them. The sermons they’ve been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.

^15-16 “So this is my verdict on them: All the preachers who preach using my name as their text, preachers I never sent in the first place, preachers who say, ‘War and famine will never come here’—these preachers will die in war and by starvation. And the people to whom they’ve been preaching will end up as corpses, victims of war and starvation, thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem unburied—no funerals for them or their wives or their children! I’ll make sure they get the full brunt of all their evil.

^17-18 “And you, Jeremiah, will say this to them:

“‘My eyes pour out tears.
    Day and night, the tears never quit.
My dear, dear people are battered and bruised,
    hopelessly and cruelly wounded.
I walk out into the fields,
    shocked by the killing fields strewn with corpses.
I walk into the city,
    shocked by the sight of starving bodies.
And I watch the preachers and priests
    going about their business as if nothing’s happened!’”

^19-22 God, have you said your final No to Judah?
    Can you simply not stand Zion any longer?
If not, why have you treated us like this,
    beaten us nearly to death?
We hoped for peace—
    nothing good came from it;
We looked for healing—
    and got kicked in the stomach.

We admit, O God, how badly we’ve lived,
    and our ancestors, how bad they were.
We’ve sinned, they’ve sinned,
    we’ve all sinned against you!
Your reputation is at stake! Don’t quit on us!
    Don’t walk out and abandon your glorious Temple!
Remember your covenant.
    Don’t break faith with us!
Can the no-gods of the godless nations cause rain?
    Can the sky water the earth by itself?
You’re the one, O God, who does this.
    So you’re the one for whom we wait.
You made it all,
    you do it all.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The Drought of Faith in God.  Unlike the land of Egypt, whose food supply depended on irrigation from the Nile River, the land of Canaan depended on the rains God sent from heaven. If His people obeyed His law, God would send the rains and give them bumper crops, but if they disobeyed, the heaven would become like iron and the earth like bronze.

No repentance—no rain!  Because of the sins of the people, God was withholding the life-giving rains and thus keeping His covenant promise to Israel. As people usually do when they’re in trouble, the Jews turned to God and prayed, but their prayers were insincere and not linked with repentance. Jeremiah had already confronted these pious hypocrites with their sins.

Remorse with tears is merely sadness that we got caught in our sin.  Regret is being sorry for our sins along with our repentance of those sins with hearts not wanting to go back to sin.  We must repent of our sins, judge and confess them, and sincerely seek the face of God. To weep because of the sufferings that sin causes is to show remorse but not repentance.

False prophets didn’t cause the drought of faith, they merely added to it.  God had two tests of a true prophet or prophetess in Israel: (1) Their predictions must be 100 percent accurate, and (2) their messages must agree with the law of God. Any prophet who permitted the worship of idols, contrary to God’s law, would be a false prophet.  God’s people knew that so to blame false prophets was a no go with God. 

Caution:  While we shouldn’t interpret every calamity as an expression of divine wrath, we must be sensitive to God and be willing to search our hearts and confess our sins.

Do we really believe what God says is really real?  Our words and behaviors in difficult situations will reveal the depth of our faith.

Lord,

You know me.  Cleanse my heart.  Renew my spirit with your Holy Spirit.  Refresh my soul.  Renew my mind.  Restore the joy of your salvation in me.  I really believe in You.

In Jesus Name, Amen