Jeremiah 12
COMMENTARY:
: 1 Righteous are YOU, O LORD, when I plead with YOU: yet let me talk with YOU of YOUR judgments: Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? (898 “deal very treacherously” [bagad] means transgressor, deceitfully, unfaithful men, to do wrong against someone by not being faithful to a person or a standard, or betray.)
DEVOTION: This is the question of the century not only for Jeremiah but for every believer who is trying to serve the LORD faithfully. We are all sinners but we try to confess our sins on a daily basis to restore our fellowship with the LORD.
Here we find that the children of Israel were doing evil and not even thinking about the LORD and confessing their sins and asking forgiveness. They were not bring their offering to the LORD. They seemed to have forgotten all the LORD had done for them in the past and were either worshiping false gods or not worshiping at all.
God is RIGHTEOUS at all times. HE always does what is right but it seemed to Jeremiah that things were not going according to what he thought should be happening to those who claimed to be the LORD’S people and what they practiced.
All genuine believers want to prosper in this world. They want to succeed within the guidelines that the LORD set for honest living but here were people who were part of the children of Israel and were doing wrong without seeming judgment.
We have to remember that the LORD is longsuffering with us and with everyone. However, HE does reach a point where HE sends judgment. It might not be until the person dies but many times it is still while they are living.
CHALLENGE: We can ask questions like Jeremiah but we have to wait for HIS answer and be faithful during our waiting period. Sometimes the answer is not what we want to hear!
: 3 But You, O LORD, know me; You have seen me, and You have tested my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
DEVOTION: Jeremiah recognized that the Lord was in control of everything including his life. He gave the Lord the respect and honor that was due to him, yet sought permission to speak freely with the Lord. Jeremiah understood that the he was the Lord’s but was perplexed at the theology and work of the Lord. Jeremiah couldn’t understand why a holy God would permit the false prophets and the unfaithful priests to prosper in their ministries, while he, a faithful servant of God, was treated like a sacrificial lamb.
God did indeed know Jeremiah and was directly at work in his life. In order to bring him to the place God wanted him to be He allowed difficulties to be in his life and prosperity to be in the wicked. This theology was and is difficult for His followers to understand yet it is a principle applied by God in several different places in the O.T. (Job 12; 21; Ps. 37; 49; 73; Hab. 1; Mal. 2:17; 3:15). The French mystic Madame Guyon wrote, “In the commencement of the spiritual life, our hardest task is to bear with our neighbor; in its progress, with ourselves; and in its end, with God.”
CHALLENGE: Laying hold of God’s promises and believing them in spite of the difficulties we are currently entwined in is never easy. Jeremiah teaches us in this chapter that God’s people do not live by explanations; they live by promises. By laying hold of His promises character and servanthood is developed. Trust in God’s control of your life today not the circumstances swirling around you! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
: 5 If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein you trust, they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan? (7323 “run” [ruwts] means guard, post, dart, hurry, do quickly, or race.)
DEVOTION: I have never been a runner. I had a son who was a runner. I enjoyed the sport of tennis. I played against people who looked at my body and thought “he can’t run.” I managed to fool them.
Here we find the LORD giving Jeremiah an answer to his questions that were not really answers but statements about what was going to happen in the future of his ministry.
In this chapter we find that the people of his home town were against him and his message. They were family but still didn’t want to hear his message from the LORD regarding their future if they didn’t repent. He was upset that even his family would not listen.
The LORD gives him an illustration of him being in a race. At the present time he was racing against men. It should be easy for him to win some of these races. The men were people that he grew up with and thought were friends.
The future was going to be different. He was not going to just race against men but against horses which represented the rest of the nation of Judah. He was going to have to battle the whole nation. We will see in the future of this book that the leaders of the nation were also going to plot to kill him. This is the warning the LORD wanted Jeremiah to listen to regarding his future ministry.
The LORD also pointed out that the nation at present was at peace. He was still in the Promised Land that the LORD had promised to the children of Israel. He was on home turf. He wasn’t preaching to a foreign nation like some of the other prophets had to do.
However, the LORD informed him that his home turf was dangerous too. There were lions in the land. When the Jordan River overflowed its banks on occasion it would force all the animals that lived on the banks to move inland. That would mean that people who lived near or traveled near the Jordan were in danger of being attacked by these animals.
In the New Testament the LORD Jesus Christ warned HIS disciples about the religious leaders who were going to attack them just as much as they attacked HIM while HE was on this earth. HE warned that they were out to kill them. Also Paul wrote about our enemy, the devil, who roamed about seeking whom he might devour.
We live in a world that doesn’t want to hear that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. They don’t like our exclusive message. They think there should be other methods or ways to inherit heaven. Once we tell them that they are Biblically wrong – they don’t like us. In fact, they want to hurt us any way they can. They will plot against us and our reputation. If they could they would lock us up.
In many countries around the world those of other religions kill, take possession of property, or place Christians in jail where they can be beaten or have other things happen to them. Our world system just doesn’t like our message.
Jeremiah’s relatives didn’t like his message and wanted to kill him for it. Are we prepared to accept whatever happens to us in our service for the King of Kings and LORD of LORDS? We should be.
CHALLENGE: The LORD wants us to strengthen ourselves on a daily basis to face the battle that is before us. If we are stronger, HE will give us greater battles to fight. That should be our desire.
: 11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourns unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart. (7760 “lays” [siym] means examine, appoint, care, cast in, commit, consider, determine, heap up, impute, preserve, purpose, or rehearse.)
DEVOTION: The pastors or leaders of the people are destroying the vineyard of the LORD. The fruit that is being produced is all rotten. They were given a land that was flowing with milk and honey and have turned it into a wilderness. They have ruined everything.
The LORD was stating that the land was crying out to HIM because of their present condition. The first time we hear of the land talking to the LORD was back in Genesis when Cain killed his brother Abel. The blood of Abel was crying out to the LORD. There was a lot of innocent blood being spilled in the Promise Land. It was the blood of the prophets that the LORD was sending to warn the people of coming judgment. The people instead of listening to the prophets, they killed them.
The people of Jeremiah’s day were not living examined lives. They were just living the way they wanted to without regard for the LORD or HIS commands.
And examined life is one that looks at the Word of God and compares their life with the commands of the LORD. If they find that they are not in compliance with HIS rules, they change their living habits. They set out in a new direction. The direction is toward the LORD.
The unexamined life is one where people do whatever they want without regard for what others think or God thinks. They are doing whatever is right in their own eyes. Their hearts are selfish and lazy. They don’t want to change. That would take work and that is a four letter word.
Our world today is full of people who don’t want to examine their lifestyle by the standard of the Word of God. They want to be spiritual in their own way. They don’t need church or the Bible or a preacher to tell them how they should live.
We need to commit our heart to the LORD. I am talking to those who are really followers of the LORD. HE has a mission for us. Our mission is to reach our world with the Word of God. We need to do it in a loving manner that is not disobedient to the Word of God. God is love but HE is also just as holy.
CHALLENGE: Touch people in your world with the message of salvation. The message should include both the love of God and the holiness of God. Change has to happen in our life and in the lives of those we teach.
: 15 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. (7355 “compassion” [racham] means to show kindness or forgiveness toward, to love, to behold with tender affection, pity, love, find compassion, or be compassionate.)
DEVOTION: The problem with those who claim to follow the LORD is that many times during a time period they seem to forget their commitment to HIM. The children of Israel had a problem of following the LORD faithfully for long periods of time. They would be faithful to HIM after HE saved them from their enemies but as time when on they forgot what HE had done for them and they thought it was better to worship false gods rather then HIM. It seemed like those who were worshiping false gods had more fun. They had wild drinking parties. They had sex with anything in sight. They didn’t have to go to the Temple to worship. They didn’t have to give some of their money to the LORD. They thought is was more fun to worship with the rest of the world rather than stay true to the LORD.
However, they found that it was not true. The LORD would only put up with it for a short time and then HE would judge them. They knew that those who didn’t follow the LORD were going to spend eternity in hell but that seemed to leave them while they were living like the rest of the world.
Today we have the same things happening even in the church. People go to church to be entertained rather than to worship a Holy God. They want to have fun in church and not hear about their responsibility to serve the LORD seven days a week and give a tenth of their income to HIM each week.
However, after some time genuine believers will face the judgment of God to have them return to worship HIM in spirit and in truth. Once this happens, they will willingly give HIM what HE requires because their love for HIM has returned.
CHALLENGE: Where are you in your relationship with the LORD? Are you in a time of chastening or a time of blessing? Only you know what is going on in your life. The LORD knows but HE is watching to see what you will do next. If you repent then HE can bless.
DONATIONS:
Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org. Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method. Thank you.
Visit our Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.