SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/21/2014
9:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Jeremiah’s
Response to the Lord’s Message
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
15:10-21
Message of the
verses: “10 Woe to me, my mother,
that you have borne me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the
land! I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me. 11
The LORD said, "Surely I will set you free for purposes of good; Surely I
will cause the enemy to make supplication to you In a time of disaster and a
time of distress. 12 “Can anyone smash iron, Iron from the north, or bronze? 13
“Your wealth and your treasures I will give for booty without cost, Even for
all your sins And within all your borders. 14 “Then I will cause your enemies
to bring it Into a land you do not know; For a fire has been kindled in My
anger, It will burn upon you."
“15 You who know, O 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 for me a
joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD
God of hosts. 17 I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, Nor did I
exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, For You filled me with
indignation. 18 Why has my pain been perpetual 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,
thus says the LORD, "If you return, then I will restore you- Before Me you
will stand; 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 must not
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 deliver you," declares the LORD. 21 “So I
will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the
grasp of the violent.’”
After the book of Jeremiah he writes Lamentations, a book
where he laments over what happened to Judah and to Jerusalem, however we also
find laments in the book of Jeremiah, and we are looking at the third one that
has been recorded.
Remember back in chapter twelve where the Lord told
Jeremiah that he would have to begin running with the horses, well he is now
running with the horses. Jeremiah is
seen as a traitor to the people of Judah, but they were the ones who were
traitor to the Lord.
We see in our previous SD on the beginning verses of this
chapter that the mothers would weep over their fallen soldiers, but Jeremiah’s
mother had more reason to weep over what was happening to Jeremiah. God had promised to preserve Jeremiah, but he
did not promise to protect him from all of the persecution he was going to go
through.
As we look back at the events of the fall of Jerusalem to
the Babylonians from the books of history we see that the Lord had told the
people of Judah not to resist the coming of the Babylonians for this was God’s
plan for them. The people did not
listen, as Jeremiah was the one who was telling them this very unpopular
message, but to no avail. This reminds
me of when the children of Israel went into the Promised Land to fight against
the people who were living there after they had sinned against the Lord by
believing ten of the spies who told them to go into the land for the Lord would
provide the victory for them. Those who
went in after being told no to were killed, as least a great majority of them. The people of Judah would have been far
better off by listening to the message of Jeremiah, unpopular as it was.
“15 Then I said, “LORD, you know what’s happening to
me. Please step in and help me. Punish
my persecutors! Please give me time; don’t let me die young. It’s for your sake that I am suffering. 16
When I discovered your words, I devoured them.
They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God
of Heaven’s Armies. 17 I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I was filled with indignation at their sins. 18
Why then does my suffering continue? Why
is my wound so incurable? Your
help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry.’” (Jeremiah 15:15-18 NLT)
Dr. Wiersbe writes that these verses are truly what is in
the heart of the prophet, and verse sixteen is a verse that I memorized when I
was a very young believer, and it is not the only place in the Word of God that
speaks of eating His Word. Dr. Wiersbe
writes in an endnote on this subject the following: “On eating the word (Jer. 15:16); see Ezekiel
3:-13; Revelation 10:9-10; Job 223:12.
Unless the Word becomes a vital part of our inner being, we can’t
receive nourishment and grow in the spiritual life. This is what Jesus had in mind when He spoke
about eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6:51-58). As we receive the written Word within, we are
also, receiving the living Word (1:14) and feeding on Christ.” “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among
us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full
of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
“After Jeremiah affirms the Lord’s long-suffering and his
own faithfulness to the Word, the next minute he was crying out with pain
because of the suffering of his people and the difficulty of his work. He even suggested that God had lied to him
when He called him and that God was ‘like a deceptive brook, like a spring that
fails (v. 18, NIV; see Job 6:15-20).”
I truly believe that the Lord appreciates this kind of
talk that Jeremiah was saying to Him, for Jeremiah was a human being and was
only saying to the Lord what was on his mind as he honestly admitted his
failing to the Lord. Jeremiah did not
cover up his feelings, trying to hide them, but poured out his heart to the
Lord. Here is the shocking answer the
Lord gives to Jeremiah “19 Therefore
this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you
may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my
spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.” (NIV)
Most versions use the word return here and not repent, but the word
means to return to where you were. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “Because of his attitude toward God and his calling, Jeremiah
was about to forfeit his ministry! In
some ways, he was mirroring the words and attitudes of the people of Judah when
they questioned God.” Perhaps I was
wrong when I said that God does not mind the fact we question Him.
Let’s now look at verse twenty “20 They will fight
against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a
fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to
protect and rescue you. I, the LORD,
have spoken!” (NLT) God is balancing rebuke with reassurance to
the prophet. Jeremiah is learning that
it is difficult to run with the horses.
Jeremiah needs to walk by faith and this meant obeying God’ Word no
matter what his feelings were. “When God
called Jeremiah he never promised that his job would be easy, but He did
promise him all that he needed to do his work faithfully.”
As we read through the Word of God we will see that many
of God’s servants became discouraged. I
can think of Moses, and Elijah who are prime examples of becoming discouraged
while doing the work of the Lord. Jonah
is another example. Dr. Wiersbe writes “God
doesn’t want us to ignore our feelings, because that would make us less than
human, but He does want us to trust Him to change our feelings and start
walking by faith (see 2 Cor. 1:3-11).” “3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and
God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our
affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For
just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is
abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are
comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring
of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is
firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you
are sharers of our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren,
of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively,
beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the
sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but
in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death,
and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver
us, 11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may
be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the
prayers of many.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I am so glad for
Dr. Wiersbe’s endnote from Jeremiah 15:16 and the fact that he brings up John
6:51-58. I knew that the passage in John
did not refer to the Lord’s Supper, but was not exactly sure what it
meant. I understand it better now and
for that I am thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5-6
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-9
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 made in the likeness
of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God
highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Ruth or Orpan” (Ruth 1:4).
Today’s Bible
question: “In which kingdom did Elijah
and Elisha appear?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/21/2014 10:27 AM
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