Jeremiah 17
COMMENTARY:
: 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). 1288 בָּרַךְ, בָּרַךְ [barak /baw·rak/] translates as “bless” 302 times, “salute” five times, ) to be blessed, be adored.
DEVOTION: A person and church that knows and trusts Jesus are truly blessed. Unlike the person in the previous verses (5-6), a blessed person will flourish like a tree beside the water (Ps.1:3) Despite the difficulties like a drought or heat, a tree will remain green and bear fruit. It will spread its roots by the water and continue to grow. A blessed man is like that as well and this abundant life is what Jesus spoke of in John 10:10 when he stated, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Regardless of what difficulties come against a believer when they are next to Jesus they can continue to experience blessings even when uncertain conditions exist. Trust and hope in the Lord!
CHALLENGE: As believers, each of us have gone through periods where it is scorching hot with adversity or a drought where no rain of revival pours down. Be thankful that the Lord knows how to provide rivers of waters to the roots of our spiritual lives as we stand. Go deep into God’s water sources (The word of God and the Holy Spirit) and be refreshed today. (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
: 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (6121 “deceitful” [‘aqob] means crooked, polluted, sly, insidious, slippery, marked by deliberate deceptiveness, uneven, fraudulent, crafty, or to betray.)
DEVOTION: Here we find a definition of all of our hearts when we are born. There is not a human being that is born that doesn’t have this type of heart when they are born. It is hard to believe this is true but from the time we begin crying after birth until our death we are individuals who are sinners in the sight of God.
The LORD stated that every human being, including the children of Israel, are born with a heart that is prone to wander from HIM and HIS commands. HE states it many times through the mouths of HIS prophets. HE sends angels to tell the people that they need to repent of their sins or be judged.
Here we find Jeremiah giving the same message to the children of Israel but for some reason the warning were not heeded. This was true then and it is true today of every human being that is born.
There is only one escape from the judgment of hell for eternity and that it to give our hearts over to the LORD because of the death of Christ on the cross for our sins. Once we genuinely turn our life over to the LORD: we will confess our sins daily and listen to HIS WORD that is found in the Bible daily, so that, we know what our actions should be that would honor the LORD.
If we think that we don’t need to confess our sins, even after we have said the prayer of repentance, we have not learned the message of salvation. It is a daily walk with the LORD to receive blessings.
Each day is a new day with the LORD even for believers. HE wants us to stay in fellowship with HIM through our reading of the Bible and prayer and habits.
We can deceive ourselves into thinking that once we have said the prayer of repentance we can do as we please. The children of Israel thought that because they were the chosen of God they could do as they pleased. This is a deception of the devil.
CHALLENGE: Whose voice are we listening to today? Israel was to listen to the voice of Jeremiah. We are to listen to the voices of the New Testament writers and the Holy Spirit each day. What is HE saying to you today?
: 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (6529 “fruit” [pariy] means results, offspring, motives, reward, attitudes, or harvest.)
DEVOTION: The New Testament informs us that “what we sow we will also reap.” If we sow wild oats we will reap the consequences of our actions. There is a relationship between our walking away from the LORD and our walking toward HIM. It is a good relationship if we are walking in HIS ways. It is a poor relationship if we are walking away from HIM in disobedience.
The LORD is the one who determines what happens to us each day. It is HIS determination that makes eternity special to us. HE is recorded throughout the Old Testament as one who searches the hearts of the people of the world. HE knows that outward appearance can fool people walking beside us but our heart or inner life is what HE examines to see if our motives are right or wrong.
It is from HIS observation of our inner motives that HE establishes what HE will do next with us. If we have a heart that is willing to serve HIM, HE will give us further instruction as to how we can please HIM. We know that faith pleases HIM. HE wants us to trust HIM explicitly.
The verse above this one informs us that our hearts are naturally wicked. We are a deceitful people. It may not show on the outside but without the LORD helping us it is there on the inside daily. HE knows our frame. HE knows that we are selfish and lazy all of our life. HE is the only one who can give us strength to honor HIM and others with our actions. HE is the only one who can give us energy to face each day.
Our hope has to be in HIM alone. Our prayers have to be daily praying for his strength to be unselfish and the strength to serve HIM with our actions.
CHALLENGE: The LORD is the one who throws all our actions into a fire and checks out the ones that don’t get burned. How many of our actions today will be burned on the day of our appearance at the Judgment Seat of Christ?
: 14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for YOU are my praise. (8416 “praise” [tehillah] means adoration, thanksgiving, laudation or hymn.)
DEVOTION: The sins of the children of Israel are recorded with a pen of iron. They are on the hearts of the people. Jeremiah warns that the anger of the LORD is real. The message sent to the children of Israel is that they need not trust in man but they need to trust in the LORD. The only ones who are blessed are those who trust in the LORD. The rest of the people are cursed. The ones who are blessed with be like a tree planted by the waters and it will prosper. [Psalm 1]
We also find in Psalm one that there is healing in the leaves of the trees. What do we need healing from? Is it just physical healing? Or is it a spiritual healing that the children of Judah need at this time. If we look at the context of the passage, we find that they need healing from sin in their lives.
Not only do they need healing from sin but they need deliverance from their enemies. The first enemy we face each day is the enemy of our flesh. We want what we want when we want it.
The second enemy we face each day is the world system or worldview of the nation we are living in. Our nation presently has a worldview that we don’t need Jesus. They don’t want our military or police chaplains to pray in Jesus name. They want to be politically correct instead of Biblically correct. They will answer to the LORD for their decision.
The third enemy we face each day is the devil and his other fallen angels that tempt us to sin. We have to resist the devil daily. We have to put on the armor of God daily to fight off his fiery darts.
The LORD wants the people to know that their hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked if left to itself. The LORD tests the heart of each individual to see what is going on.
The children of Judah are under HIS examination. HE wants to see what direction they are headed. HE knows which way they are headed. Those who have forsaken HIM are forsaking the fountain of LIVING WATER. They are heading the wrong way.
Jeremiah realizes that he is part of the children of Judah and needs to act. So he asks the LORD to heal him. He wants his life to honor the LORD. Remember he has called the LORD a liar. He needs to confess his sin and ask the LORD to forgive him. Once he is forgiven, he can be delivered from the judgment of God.
At this point Jeremiah prays a praise prayer. He knows what the LORD is capable of in his life. He wants healing and deliverance in the time of trouble that is on its way to Jerusalem.
The LORD gives Jeremiah a message to give at the gates of Jerusalem. They are to honor HIS Sabbath. If they honor HIS Sabbath, HE will spare them. However, they are not listening to Jeremiah or the LORD’S message.
Jeremiah in the midst of all his problems realized that God was the answer. He realizes that even through others are not following the LORD, He can. We need to realize the same truth.
We need to be praying for revival in the hearts of God’s people. The LORD is longsuffering. Judgment must come to those who are not willing to confess their sins and follow the LORD. People were giving him a hard time because of his prophecy of judgment but God was giving him courage.
We are to sing hymns to HIM at all times. We need to offer our SACRIFICES of PRAISE. Remember one of the signs of the filling of the Holy Spirit is SINGING. Are we singing daily? Are we praising HIM? When people meet us do they consider us, people that have a THANKFUL heart or one that is grumbling most of the time? HE is the fountain of LIVING WATER!!!
CHALLENGE: Once we know we are forgiven of the LORD is our first reaction singing? If we are not singing, we need to be praying for a singing spirit within us.
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