In The Word
Read: Jeremiah 14-15
Drought and a Prayer for Mercy
14 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah regarding the drought:
2 “Judah mourns
And her gates languish;
Her people sit on the ground in mourning garments,
And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.
3 Their nobles have sent their servants for water;
They have come to the cisterns and found no water.
They have returned with their containers empty;
They have been put to shame and humiliated,
And they cover their heads,
4 Because the ground is cracked,
For there has been no rain on the land.
The farmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads.
5 For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,
Because there is no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals,
Their eyes fail
Because there is no vegetation.
7 Though our wrongdoings testify against us,
Lord, act for the sake of Your name!
Our apostasies have indeed been many,
We have sinned against You.
8 Hope of Israel,
Its Savior in time of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land,
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
9 Why are You like a confused person,
Like a warrior who cannot save?
Yet You are in our midst, Lord,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!”
10 This is what the Lord says to this people: “So much they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; now He will remember their wrongdoing and call their sins to account.” 11 So the Lordsaid to me, “Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people. 12 When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to put an end to them by the sword, famine, and plague.”
False Prophets
13 But I said, “Oh, Lord God! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own minds. 15 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their ownwickedness upon them.
17 You will say this word to them,
‘Let my eyes stream down tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely infected wound.
18 If I go out to the country,
There are those killed by the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
There are diseases from famine!
For both prophet and priest
Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.’”
19 Have You completely rejected Judah?
Or have You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing?
We waited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
20 We know our wickedness, Lord,
The wrongdoing of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.
21 Do not despise us, for the sake of Your own name;
Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory.
Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, Lord our God?
Therefore we wait for You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.
Judgment Must Come
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people. Send them away from My presence and have them go! 2 And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“Those destined for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’
3 And I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5 “Indeed, who will have pity on you, Jerusalem,
Or who will mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6 You who have forsaken Me,” declares the Lord,
“You keep going backward.
So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am tired of relenting!
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
They did not repent of their ways.
8 Their widows will be more numerous before Me
Than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
A destroyer at noon;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Shock and horror.
9 She who gave birth to seven sons withers away;
Her breathing is labored.
Her sun has set while it was still day;
She has been shamed and humiliated.
So I will turn over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.
10 Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said, “I will certainly set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the enemy plead with you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
12 “Can anyone smash iron,
Iron from the north, or bronze?
13 I will give your wealth and your treasures
As plunder without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
14 Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions
Into a land that you do not know;
For a fire has been kindled in My anger,
And it will burn upon you.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer
15 You know, Lord;
Remember me, take notice of me,
And take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.
16 Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
Lord God of armies.
17 I did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone,
For You filled me with indignation.
18 Why has my pain been endless
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“If you return, then I will restore you—
You will stand before Me;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become My spokesman.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
20 Then I will make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For I am with you to save you
And rescue you,” declares the Lord.
21 “So I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
We see that the devil had people who had not heard the voice of God act as prophets to God’s people. They encouraged the people that there would be no famine or battle to come into the land. These false prophets were tickling the peoples ears with these words because this was opposite of what God had spoken. This is the same way that the devil deceived Adam and Eve when he said, “You will surely not die.” The devil is always putting deception into the ears of people. What God says, He means. The deception today is the same: most people believe they can disobey God and there won’t be any consequences. They also believe another lie from Satan, “Did God really say that?” We must understand the full counsel of God’s Word so that we won’t be deceived.
When we are broken from our sin and we repent to the Lord, then as believers in Yeshua, we have complete forgiveness by His blood. However, we still may have consequences for our sin. One of the most sobering thoughts is that we don’t get to pick the punishment for our disobedience. Today, sit before the Lord and truly look upon His word as a mirror to see if your life is a clear reflection of Him. If there is sin, then out of your love for Him be broken with a contrite heart and repent and ask for forgiveness. Reflect on your mistakes and learn from them.