The Conspiracy Against Jeremiah (Jeremiah 11:18-23)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2014 8:50 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  The Conspiracy against Jeremiah

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 11:18-23

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We continue today in our study of the eleventh chapter of the book of Jeremiah where we will be looking at the second sub-point from Dr. Wiersbe outline which he entitles “Conspiring Against God’s Authority.”

            The Conspiracy Against Jeremiah (Jeremiah 11:18-23):  “18  Moreover, the LORD made it known to me and I knew it; Then You showed me their deeds. 19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, And let us cut him off from the land of the living, That his name be remembered no more." 20 But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, Who tries the feelings and the heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You have I committed my cause. 21  Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you will not die at our hand"; 22  therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, I am about to punish them! The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine; 23 and a remnant will not be left to them, for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth-the year of their punishment.’”

            We can see from this passage that the cup of wrath that God has for these people is full and He will execute judgment on them, and they will not be allowed to fulfill the plan that they have concocted for the prophet Jeremiah.

            Why did these people want to kill Jeremiah?  There was a deep seated hatred against the Lord, which they probably did not even know existed in their heart because they did not have the Word of God in their hearts for they had believed the false prophets and the false priests who spoke out against the Lord.  This did not happen all at once for it is kind of like the frog in the kettle story where if you put a frog into a pot of very hot water he will jump out, but if you put the frog in a kettle of warm water and continue to increase heat you will cook him before he knows the water is too hot for him.  These people had been feed the lies a little at a time and now they had swallowed the entire false teachings of what the false prophets said against the Lord and against Jeremiah.  If we are honest with ourselves we can see that this same thing is happening to our country today for seeds were sown years ago for the destruction of our country, but just as in the case of Israel we have the chance to turn it around but telling others one person at a time about the forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ, and as more and more people are saved then they will be able to tell others about how they too can be saved and before you know it there will be a revival in the Church in our country.

            When you think about why the Lord Jesus Christ was killed by the false teachers of His day you can determine that instead of being convicted, which they should have been, they decided to destroy the Messenger of the good news, and this was the same thing that was happening to Jeremiah and the people from his home town.  Dr Wiersbe writes “But they had a second reason:  as loyal Jews, they felt that his prophecies were harmful to the welfare of the nation.  Jeremiah preached impending judgment from Babylon, while the false prophets were declaring messages of peace (Jer. 6:14:8:11).  Jeremiah insisted that the people obey the Law and bring their sacrifices to the temple and not to the local shrines (high places), some of which were dedicated to idols, and the priests didn’t like that.  Jeremiah was pro-Babylon while the rusers were pro-Egypt.  In other words, Jeremiah was out of step with his times, and because he was decisive, he had to walk along and ‘vote with God.’”

            We can see from this passage that Jeremiah didn’t realize what was going on with the people of his home town until the Lord told him about it, for he was like a sheep going to slaughter until God informed him about the plot.  We see in this section and others that Jeremiah pours his heart out to the Lord, for while in public he was bold, but in private he poured out his heart to the only One who could help him.  Paul was the same way as he wrote to the Corinthians about this same thing that Jeremiah was doing.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Pouring my heart out to the Lord over sin that is going on in our country is something that I surely need to do more of, for it is sin that is destroying our country, and only God can take care of that problem for it is a heart problem and needs the Great Physician to care for it

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be like Daniel and Jeremiah, and also like Jesus who were brokenhearted over the sin that went on around them.  Daniel confessed the sins of Israel to the Lord, and also confessed his sins before the Lord asking for mercy, and mercy is what is needed from the Lord in our country now.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-7

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being make in the likeness of men.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “twenty-seven.”

Today’s Bible question:  “How long was the span of time from the Exodus from Egypt until Solomon started building the temple?” 

Answer in our next SD.

2/28/2014 9:27 AM