September 26, 2011
The obvious was right in front of them—but it was rejected. They had the benefit of knowing their past history and God's protection. They knew God had proven Himself faithful. Yet, they turned away from God (the spring of Living Water) and instead dug their own wells, attempting to be the god themselves. It never works! God—the spring of Living Water, eternal, unfailing, and forever. Man (trying to be in control) decides to dig his own wells—broken cisterns that cannot hold water, will always disappoint, are temporary, and unsatisfying. And then, when their own wells failed them, they turned to Egypt to drink from the Shiror River and to Assyria to drink from the Euphrates River instead of submitting to the obvious—the spring of Living Water—the LORD. Stubborn refusal.
The obvious was right in front of them—but it was rejected. They had the benefit of knowing their past history and God's protection. They knew God had proven Himself faithful. Yet, they turned away from God (the spring of Living Water) and instead dug their own wells, attempting to be the god themselves. It never works! God—the spring of Living Water, eternal, unfailing, and forever. Man (trying to be in control) decides to dig his own wells—broken cisterns that cannot hold water, will always disappoint, are temporary, and unsatisfying. And then, when their own wells failed them, they turned to Egypt to drink from the Shiror River and to Assyria to drink from the Euphrates River instead of submitting to the obvious—the spring of Living Water—the LORD. Stubborn refusal.
"Your evil will bring punishment to you, and the wrong you have done will teach you a lesson. Think about this and understand that it is a terrible evil to turn away from the LORD your God. It is wrong not to fear me," says the LORD.
But, even though you have turned away from me (God) you won't admit it. You say, "I am not guilty." Look at the things you have done!! "Think about what you have done." How can you possibly think you have not turned away from me?? Think about it!! Look what you have done! You do everything yourself and follow your own selfish ways. "But when you get in trouble you say, 'Come and save us!' "
Why should I help you now? Why not have all the things you put your faith in up until now help you? Why complain to me now? You are the one who decided to turn from me. "I punished your people, but it did not help." You didn't come back to me. You have forgotten about me. You didn't pay attention to me. You have chased after the things you wanted. You have the blood of innocent people on your hands. You have aggressively and purposely set out to get what you want from innocent and unsuspecting people. You do all this and yet you still say, "I am innocent. God is not angry with me." Because you won't admit your guilt, "I will judge you guilty of lying." Everything you have trusted in will let you down. They (it) will let you down. You will be led away like captives.
Why should I help you now? Why not have all the things you put your faith in up until now help you? Why complain to me now? You are the one who decided to turn from me. "I punished your people, but it did not help." You didn't come back to me. You have forgotten about me. You didn't pay attention to me. You have chased after the things you wanted. You have the blood of innocent people on your hands. You have aggressively and purposely set out to get what you want from innocent and unsuspecting people. You do all this and yet you still say, "I am innocent. God is not angry with me." Because you won't admit your guilt, "I will judge you guilty of lying." Everything you have trusted in will let you down. They (it) will let you down. You will be led away like captives.
Jeremiah 3 - You get in trouble and say you want to come back to me, but "you refuse to even be ashamed of what you did." You "act" like you have changed and want help, but "you did as much evil as you could." God goes on to say that "faithless" Israel was better off than "unfaithful" Judah. (Cross Reference I Peter 2:21 - "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the
sacred command that was passed on to them.") God says to them, "Come back..." All you have to do is admit your sin and admit you put your faith in yourself and didn't obey me. Come back to me. Come back to me, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful.
"IF you will return, then return to me." IF you decide to do what God asks you to do, and IF you are truthful, honest, and mean what you say, THEN you will be blessed and you will praise Him for what He has done. It's your choice. Choose to give yourself to the service of the LORD. Choose to obey him. "IF you don't, my anger will spread among you like a fire, and no one will be able to put it out, because of the evil you have done." The wind I send will not be a gentle wind of discipline. It will be a strong wind of judgment. "The way you have lived and acted has brought this trouble to you." "(You) are skillful at doing evil, but (you) don't know how to do good."
Jeremiah 5 - "If you can find one person who does honest things, who searches for truth, I will forgive this city. Although the people say, 'As surely as the LORD lives!' they don't really mean it." Then Jeremiah says,
LORD,
You struck them
but they didn't feel any pain
You crushed them
but they refused to learn what is right
"They became more stubborn than a rock; they refused to turn back to God." So Jeremiah thought, they must just not get it. They must be poor and foolish and not understand. Or maybe they just haven't learned the ways of the LORD. Maybe if I go the the leaders, surely then they will understand. But even the leaders had turned away from following the LORD. They had behaved this way for so long that they were sure they were safe and nothing would happen to them. They thought, "He will not do anything to us! Nothing bad will happen to us! We will never see war or hunger!" These prophets are just trying to scare us. "Let the bad things they say happen to them." But even though they didn't like the message, "This is what the LORD God All-Powerful says, 'The people said I would not punish them. So, the words I give you will be like fire, and these people will be like wood that it burns up.' "
Punishment will happen. Accountability will happen. Just because God remains silent for a period of time does not mean He is unaware or uninterested. He knows! "Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense." (You) have eyes but (you) don't really see. (You) have ears, but (you) don't really listen. (Cross References: Isaiah 44:18 - "Those people don't know what they are doing. They don't understand! It is as if their eyes are covered so they can't see. Their minds don't understand." Proverbs 4:19 - "But the wicked walk around in the dark; they can't even see what makes them stumble.")
Surely you understand who I am. Surely you are afraid of me. Surely you realize that I am—the I AM. I made the beaches be the border for the sea. I made the earth and seas. I bring the spring and autumn rains. But you do not say to yourself, "We should fear the LORD our God." Your evil has kept away my blessings. Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things. There is wickedness among you. People who set traps to catch people. Their houses are full of lies. They've become rich and powerful, big and fat. There is no end to the evil things they scheme to do. They are not interested in fairness. They only are interested in what they selfishly want. Shouldn't I punish those who do these things? Shouldn't I give them what they deserve?
My people are satisfied living their lives of evil. But what will they do when the end comes?
Next Entry: Jeremiah 2:1 – 6:30 (Continued)
"IF you will return, then return to me." IF you decide to do what God asks you to do, and IF you are truthful, honest, and mean what you say, THEN you will be blessed and you will praise Him for what He has done. It's your choice. Choose to give yourself to the service of the LORD. Choose to obey him. "IF you don't, my anger will spread among you like a fire, and no one will be able to put it out, because of the evil you have done." The wind I send will not be a gentle wind of discipline. It will be a strong wind of judgment. "The way you have lived and acted has brought this trouble to you." "(You) are skillful at doing evil, but (you) don't know how to do good."
Jeremiah 5 - "If you can find one person who does honest things, who searches for truth, I will forgive this city. Although the people say, 'As surely as the LORD lives!' they don't really mean it." Then Jeremiah says,
LORD,
You struck them
but they didn't feel any pain
You crushed them
but they refused to learn what is right
"They became more stubborn than a rock; they refused to turn back to God." So Jeremiah thought, they must just not get it. They must be poor and foolish and not understand. Or maybe they just haven't learned the ways of the LORD. Maybe if I go the the leaders, surely then they will understand. But even the leaders had turned away from following the LORD. They had behaved this way for so long that they were sure they were safe and nothing would happen to them. They thought, "He will not do anything to us! Nothing bad will happen to us! We will never see war or hunger!" These prophets are just trying to scare us. "Let the bad things they say happen to them." But even though they didn't like the message, "This is what the LORD God All-Powerful says, 'The people said I would not punish them. So, the words I give you will be like fire, and these people will be like wood that it burns up.' "
Punishment will happen. Accountability will happen. Just because God remains silent for a period of time does not mean He is unaware or uninterested. He knows! "Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense." (You) have eyes but (you) don't really see. (You) have ears, but (you) don't really listen. (Cross References: Isaiah 44:18 - "Those people don't know what they are doing. They don't understand! It is as if their eyes are covered so they can't see. Their minds don't understand." Proverbs 4:19 - "But the wicked walk around in the dark; they can't even see what makes them stumble.")
Surely you understand who I am. Surely you are afraid of me. Surely you realize that I am—the I AM. I made the beaches be the border for the sea. I made the earth and seas. I bring the spring and autumn rains. But you do not say to yourself, "We should fear the LORD our God." Your evil has kept away my blessings. Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things. There is wickedness among you. People who set traps to catch people. Their houses are full of lies. They've become rich and powerful, big and fat. There is no end to the evil things they scheme to do. They are not interested in fairness. They only are interested in what they selfishly want. Shouldn't I punish those who do these things? Shouldn't I give them what they deserve?
My people are satisfied living their lives of evil. But what will they do when the end comes?
Next Entry: Jeremiah 2:1 – 6:30 (Continued)
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