So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.
This week we move into the Book of Jeremiah and its companion book, Lamentations. Jeremiah saw his nation disintegrating morally from within and the future militarily destruction.
He warned them.
They ignored him.
He continued anyway.
He told them they would be judged by God if they didn’t stop their willful disobedience.
They didn’t.
As a result, he saw Jerusalem attacked in 586 BC and his people being taken captive to foreign lands.
While his apprentice, Baruch’s details the story, what should we take from the man best known as ‘the weeping prophet?’
Jeremiah loved His God and those who called Yahweh their God. However, he struggled with their cultural faith as well as the false Gods in the society all around them. He showed his love for both by his willingness to warn the world of the consequences for not obeying God. He also struggled with the question many of us struggle with today - why would God allow man's inhumanity?
He was broken by the evil he witnessed. Just look at part of the poem from lamentations 1:18-20
“The Lord is righteous, yet I rebelled against his command.
Listen, all you peoples; look on my suffering.
My young men and young women have gone into exile.
19 “I called to my allies but they betrayed me.
My priests and my elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.
20 “See, Lord, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death.
In the middle of trying circumstances, we often wonder “where are you and why aren’t you jumping in here and helping. It reminds me of a story…
A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to Enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they Noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to Table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to His wife, ‘I hope he doesn’t come over here.’ But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. ‘Where are you folks from?’ he asked in a friendly voice.
‘Oklahoma,’ they answered. ‘Great to have you here in Tennessee,’ the stranger said…
‘What do you do For a living?’ ‘I teach at a seminary,’ he replied.
‘Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I’ve got a really Great story for you.’ And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat Down at the table with the couple.
The professor groaned and thought to himself, ‘Great.. Just what I Need…. Another preacher story!’ The man started, ‘See that mountain over there? (Pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, ‘Hey boy, who’s your daddy?’ Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’
He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students.. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad. ‘When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late And slip out early to avoid hearing the question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’
But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast that he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, ‘Son, who’s your daddy?’
The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’
This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy.. ‘Wait a minute! I know who you are! I see the family resemblance now, 'You are a child of God.’
With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a Great inheritance.. Go and claim it.’ ‘With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, ‘Who’s your Daddy?’ he’d just tell them, ‘I’m a Child of God..”
The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, ‘Isn’t that a great story?’
The professor responded that it really was a great story! As the man turned to leave, he said, ‘You know, if that new preacher hadn’t told me that I was one of God’s children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!’ And he walked away. The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked her, ‘Do you know who that man was — the one who just left that was sitting at our table?’ The waitress grinned and said, ‘Of course. Everybody here knows him. That’s Ben Hooper. He’s governor of Tennessee!’ (edited homily stories)
The book of Jeremiah is both a warning for us and a book of hope for those who know first that they too are a child of God.
The book of Jeremiah stands as a warning against the consequences of ignoring God and believing in idolatry. God’s justice will always prevail. We need only have faith in our God and His concern for His children. Sure, there will be bad days on earth. It’s broken and you don’t need to be a believer to see it. However, God’s promise to His people offers the glimmer of hope that we all need to grasp with everything we have. After all, we all live in a world where pain, suffering and injustice are still very present.
In many ways, we (those who call themselves Christians), are like the exiled Jewish people carried off to babylon. We have been placed in a society that is no longer God centered. It's why so many are discouraged and some are rejecting the faith in favor of other Gods. The Gods of money, power, prestige, comfort, consumerism, capitalism and physical beauty to name a few.
This brings us to the second purpose of the book - hope. As those placed in Itasca, Illinois by God, let us grab on to the glimmer of hope we see in Jeremiah. First to the exiled tribe beginning in chapter 29:10
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
And then again in Chapter 31:16-17
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,’ declares the Lord. ‘They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants’”
God knows they needed encouragement then, and in the same way, He knows we need it now. He gets us because he created us. He provided a way for us to escape the enemy of all of humankind. He suffered, died and rose so He could offer you grace. Not cheap grace, where you get to keep on sinning saying I have been saved therefore I can sin all the more.
The Godly grace represented by the kind of love and direction only Jesus can provide through your willingness to surrender our will, submit to Him and then commit to a life that represents Him in the here and now.
Make no mistake. Grace is free to you and I.
But Grace is eternally costly.
Grace opens the door to a supernatural relationship.
Grace gives us the power of the Holy Spirit.
Grace provides us the ability to commit with perseverance OR OBEY.
Grace ensures infinite strength and power to do God’s will on earth.
Just as Jeremiah’s writings reveal the heart of God. Jesus wept over those upon whom judgment was coming: “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes’” (Luke 19:41–42). It should comfort us to know that, when we weep for the fate of lost people, God Himself joins us (Jeremiah 9:1,10).
He gets us. He walked among us. He suffered our pains. He knows our needs - physical, mental, and spiritual. Like a good human father, He did what He had to save His family. He surrendered His life so that he could empower His children with His Spirit to invite others to life with “abba” our daddy forever.
Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/jeremiah/
References: Quest Bible Overviews 1095, Warren Wiersbe Commentary; bible gateway (niv), blue letter bible commentaries, https://www.gotquestions.org/weeping-prophet.html
