Jeremiah 11
COMMENTARY:
:3 And say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). Curse – to curse, lay under a curse, put a curse on.
DEVOTION: Jeremiah is speaking to a group of people that had just received the word of God if this is the time of the discovery of God’s word being discovered during the reign of Josiah in 2 Chronicles 34. Jeremiah is calling on the people of God to heed the words of this covenant that Josiah has read to them.
The reading of God’s word is an important part of the growth of the believer and it is a tragic wrong doing on the part of the church to remove the reading of God’s word in favor of other items in the service time. Nehemiah read the word and revival erupted (Nehemiah 8-13); Josiah had the word read and massive reformation took place in the nation. Paul exhorts Timothy to public reading of the word of God (1 Timothy 4:13).
We as a people need to be more observant and determined to read the word of God and to obey them as we read. Too often we are prone to read and then go about our day as if nothing has changed. Reading without application is not reading at all.
CHALLENGE: Hear the word of the Lord and be obedient! It may mean speaking to someone or writing a note. It could suggest memorizing a portion of Scripture that the Lord has laid on your heart. Whatever the piece of Scripture is that you read seek to be obedient to the spirit as He speaks through it. (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
: 7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. (8085 “obey” [shama] means to hear intelligently, understand, pay attention, consider, discern, listen, or regard.
DEVOTION: The LORD made it simple when HE delivered the children of Israel from Egypt. HE commanded them to just pay attention to what HE had to say to them. HE wanted them to listen to HIS commands. HE repeated these words often to the children of Israel but they didn’t want to listen. They didn’t want to understand what was required of them. They didn’t want to pay attention.
What should the LORD do with these kind of children? What would we do? HE warned them what would happen. Remember that in the Old Testament parents could take their rebellious children to the elders of the town and they could judge whether they should be stoned to death.
Here we have God stating that HE was going to deal with HIS rebellious children in the same way using the nation of Babylon. They continued to walk after the imagination of their evil hearts. They continued to break HIS covenant agreement with them.
HE stated to Jeremiah that HE would not hear their prayers. HE told Jeremiah to not pray for them. HE said they could pray to their false gods for help.
Finally, HE told Jeremiah that they wanted to kill him because he was speaking the truth to them about their condition. They didn’t want to hear the truth. They thought if Jeremiah was dead the message would go away.
Jeremiah prayed for help from the LORD. The LORD promised HE would deal with those who wanted to kill Jeremiah.
The LORD wants us to listen to HIS Son and the Word of God. HE continues to send individuals who love HIM to share the truth of the Word of God. Many are not listening to them. They would rather not hear them. Some church leaders do not even bother sharing from the Word of God any more. They tell stories. They tell the people that the Bible only contains the Word of God. It is not all true.
What are we to do? We need to continue to share with people the TRUTH of the Word of God. We need to do it until HE comes for us or we leave this world.
There could come a time, even here, where people will try to kill us for telling them the TRUTH that is found in the Word of God. Should we stop? NO!!!
Pay attention to the Word of God. Jeremiah did and the LORD promised to protect him. HE will do the same for us!! Praise HIS name!
CHALLENGE: God is still protesting in heaven to those who will not hear intelligently the TRUTH of HIS word. Find out the TRUTH of the Word of God and spread even if it could be hazardous to your health.
: 11 Therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry to ME, I will not hearken to them. (2199 “cry” [za‘aq] means assemble, call, call for help, cry out in need, to utter aloud a request for help with intensity, or to summon.)
DEVOTION: Throughout the Word of God we will find times when the LORD will not hear the prayers of those who are suffering. Here is an example of this happening to Israel because they would not hear HIS prophets, then HE would not hear their prayers.
The LORD wants HIS people to listen to HIM and to those HE sends to warn them of coming judgment. If the people who claim to be God’s people are not willing to listen to the messengers HE send to them, then the LORD is not going to listen to their prayers.
Sometimes we wonder why the LORD is not answering our prayer and it might be we are not listening to HIM or HIS servants when they try to tell us that we are walking in the wrong direction and we don’t want to change.
God is interested in helping HIS servants as long as they are listening to HIM and repenting of their sins and walking in a manner that is pleasing to HIM.
This is not only true of individuals but of nations. Here we find a nation that the LORD loved being judged because they are willing to change their behavior. Could this be true of our nation that was founded on Christian principles? Are we willing to listen to the LORD when we hear HIS Word preached? Can a nation have a revival like Israel has in the past?
We need to be encouraging fellow believers to be listening to the instructions of the LORD. Pastors need to be teaching the truth of the Word of God rather than just entertaining those who claim to be believers but who are not willing to change their behavior to please the LORD fully.
CHALLENGE: We have to ask ourselves as individuals if we are following the LORD with all our heart? Also we need to consider only attending a church that is giving us the truth of the Word of God rather than just entertaining us for an hour!
: 14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. (8605 “prayer” [taphillah] means pray a prayer, house of prayer, entreaty, supplication, plea, or request.)
DEVOTION: We found in chapter seven verse sixteen that the LORD told Jeremiah to not pray for the children of Judah. They enjoyed sinning. They didn’t want to change. Judgment was coming.
When those who claim to be followers of the LORD live outside HIS commandments they will be chastened of the LORD. The LORD states many places in the Bible that was established before the foundation of the world that those HE loves HE chastens.
Now there were two groups of people in Judah. There were those who were trying to follow the LORD and those who didn’t care. The ones who cared about listening to the LORD were in the minority. They are called the remnant throughout the books of prophecy.
Those who don’t care to follow the LORD are those who will not listen to the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would leave individuals who would not listen to the LORD.
In the New Testament the Holy Spirit indwells those who make a commitment to the LORD. This commitment was known of the LORD before the foundation of the world. Does that mean that there was no choice involved? NO!!! God is omniscient and doesn’t live in time. HE will send sickness, weakness and pre-mature death to those individuals who are genuine believers that are not listening to the LORD.
Now we have two groups of people in our world today. One group rejects Jesus Christ and all HE teaches without reservation but also part of this group are those who claim to have said a prayer or made a commitment to the LORD at a meeting but there have been little or no change in their life. They continue to live as they please. They are not committed to studying the Word of God or prayer. They attend church regularly or at least some of them do but that is as far as their commitment goes. They are considered by some as baby or carnal Christians. However, there was never a real commitment. The LORD will say on judgment day “I never knew you.”
Finally, there are those like Jeremiah living in Jerusalem who were going to see captivity but would be preserved through it all. They were the ones who were genuine followers of the LORD that want to learn more of the Word of God and want a close relationship with the LORD. They will fall down at times but the LORD will lift them up. If they continue in sin the LORD will send warnings because again those HE loves HE chastens.
CHALLENGE: Our heart informs us, as to which groups we are in. Our actions show us our heart’s desire. If there is any doubt go to the LORD in prayer and settle it with HIM. HE will answer the prayers of HIS children.
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