Jeremiah 4
COMMENTARY:
: 2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. (571 “truth” [emeth] means right, faithful, firmness, stability, security, fidelity, permanence, or reliability.)
DEVOTION: One of the facts of the Word of God is that God is reliable. HE says what HE means and means what HE says.
The first fact that we need to realize is that the LORD is alive. HE is a living God. HE is an eternal God. HE is a holy God. Our God is unchanging. If HE states that we must do something, we must do it. If HE informs us that we are not to do something, we are not to do it. If we do it HE will judge us.
We live in a world that is starting not to believe in absolutes. They are trying to teach us that that everything is relative. There is nothing that is permanent. Facts are not really facts. Everything is on shaky ground. We have nothing we can depend on.
The people in Judah were hardened to the reliability of the Word of God. They needed to break up their fallow ground. They needed to return to their beliefs in the God of Creation. They needed to stop doing their abominations in the presence of the LORD. They needed to start living as if they believed in a stable God that was alive.
They knew HE was a God of judgment. They had experienced it in the past and were told of it by their forefathers. They knew that the LORD was righteous God and HE wanted them to live right in HIS sight.
If their actions would show their beliefs in these fact they would be a testimony to the nations around them again. They would manifest the power of the LORD. They would have a new heart.
The LORD wants us to continually review our relationship with HIM. HE has given us the LORD’S Supper to celebrate until HE returns. Each time we celebrate this ordinance we are to examine ourselves to see how we are doing in our growth in the LORD. If we find areas that we need to improve, which there always are, and then we need to confess our sins and ask for help in those areas.
The Apostle John gives us these instructions in the New Testament in our relationship with the Holy Spirit (John 16:8- 11). Our relationship with the LORD is manifested in our life if we are filled with the Holy Spirit. This happens at the point of salvation and leaves because of the unexamined life of a believer. We grieve the Holy Spirit with our sin. We quench the Holy Spirit when we are not doing things that HE commands us to do. Our goal should be to not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit in our life.
When this takes place we can bring glory to the LORD. Our service is important to the advancement of our local church and HIS kingdom.
CHALLENGE: Realize that there are absolutes in our world. The greatest absolute is the reliability of the Word of God. Share it with all you know as a message from the LORD.
: 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest MY fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (3824 “heart” [lebab] means inner man, will, the soul, affections, conscience, the locus of a person’s thoughts (mind), volition, emotions, and knowledge of right from wrong (conscience) understood as the heart.)
DEVOTION: Here we find the LORD talking to the children of Israel regarding their relationship with HIM. HE was not happy with their present actions because they were not pleasing to HIM and the people of Israel needed to know that HE was not happy and so HE threatened them with judgment.
HE wanted them to change their actions before HE came in judgment to change them for them. They were disobeying HIM so completely that HE saw no other way to get their attention than to cause them to go into captivity under another nation that didn’t love HIM.
They were acting like the heathen nations around them and HE would not accept these types of actions from a group of people who were supposed to be following HIM. They were not listening to HIS prophets and Jeremiah was issuing this warning before it was going to take place.
Repentance was the only solution to this problem but the people were being stubborn. HE was warning but they were not listening. The other ten tribes had already gone into captivity and they were on their way because of their disregard for HIS warnings.
This can happen today as well. HE has sent warnings to us but it seems like we are in the same position as the children of Israel. We think we can do as we please and the LORD will not send judgment.
However, as we look at what is happening in our society today here in America and around the world we see those who claim to be followers of the LORD moving further and further away from the teachings of the Word of God, the Bible, to listening to messages that tell them they don’t need to repent of their sins and follow the LORD according to the teaching of the Bible.
It seems that the time is short, just like with the children of Israel. The ears of those who claim Christ are doing everything that the rest of the world is doing regarding disobeying the commands of the LORD and thinking HE doesn’t care.
CHALLENGE: Repentance is needed in the church as well in the places that prepare people to serve the LORD. There needs to be a revival in the hearts of the leaders as will as those in the pew for the LORD to stop judgment from coming today!
: 18 Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart. (4751 “bitter” [mar] means chafed, discontented, very difficult to accept or bear, sorrowful, anguished, or poisonous.
DEVOTION: Today we live in a world that really irritate everyone. It is difficult when we fight discontentment when things are not going the way we would like them to go. Sometimes it is our own fault and others it just happens.
The children of Israel were dealing with this emotion. They were responsible for what was happening to them but they didn’t want to accept responsibility for their own actions. The second part of the problem was that their heart was affected to the point that they didn’t want to repent of their sins. They even tried to blame God for all their problems.
The LORD had given the children of Israel specific instructions regarding their actions toward the world and HIM. HE had given the Ten Commandments for them to follow. HE had given them priests and prophets to give them updated information. HE never left them alone.
We can become bitter when the LORD judges us for our sin and we are not willing to repent. HE wants us to repent of our sins and keep close fellowship with HIM. Paul tells us that HE will send weakness, sickness and even death to reestablish fellowship with HIS children.
Many of the children of Israel were not following the LORD and Jeremiah was sent to warn them about what was coming. They could have reacted by repentance but most did not. Their hearts were not right with the LORD.
The LORD was only able to take one or two from a family because they repented of their sins. Today we have the same problem. Many are not worshiping false gods that are made of gold and silver but they still don’t want to worship the one TRUE GOD of the universe.
The LORD informs Jeremiah that the people’s actions are causing them to face HIS anger. HE has given them time to repent. Remember that HE is longsuffering with all but there comes a point when judgment must come.
Are we acting in a way that is displeasing to the LORD because we don’t care what HE expects of us? Are we unwilling to repent of our sins which will lead to judgment?
CHALLENGE: Jeremiah is warning the children of Israel. This warning is given to us also. Are we blaming God for our actions?
: 22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. (5530 “sottish” [cakal] means silly, senseless, not intelligent, stupid, pertaining to being senseless and stupid and lacking understand or foolish.)
DEVOTION: The LORD continues to confront Judah through the ministry of Jeremiah. HE asks them to return. Jeremiah proclaims that the LORD lives and he is involved with spreading truth. HE is also responsible for judgment. HE finally is involved in righteousness. The fruit of all these is that the nations shall bless themselves in HIM and shall glory in HIM.
However, the children of Judah need to break up their fallow ground. They need to circumcise their heart. They need to wash their heart from wickedness.
Why? There is a need to be genuine followers of the LORD. They are presently acting like spoiled children. They are acting so young that they can’t tell right from wrong. They are so good at doing evil they are called wise. They have no knowledge of how to do good.
How young are they acting? How about one year’s old. They are silly. They lack intelligence. They are morally wicked. They are headed for judgment.
The LORD informs Jeremiah that HE will not make a full end of them. The land will be desolate. The people will be in captivity but they will still have hope in the future. The LORD has spoken it. The LORD has purposed it. HE will not repent of the judgment but HE will restore them in the future. That time is still in the future.
It is not easy to raise children today. There are so many temptations out there for them to yield to in our society. They are told that they don’t have to obey any authority at home, school or church. The television encourages them to do their own thing.
The LORD confronted the children of Israel for doing their own thing. They had no trouble doing evil things but when it came to good things it was a different story. That is as true today as then.
We sometimes reject wisdom that comes from God’s Word. We think we can do things better than what God says to do. We are wrong. We are children that lack understanding when we try to do things our way.
We don’t have to teach our children to do evil; we have to teach them to do what is Biblically correct. That is what God is trying to do with HIS word to us. Parents – never give up. Pastors – never give up. Sunday school teachers – never give up. Are we listening or are we being silly?
Too often we find people who have been in the church for forty years who are still one year old in the LORD. They are not obeying the commands of the LORD. They still want to be bottle fed instead of willing to chew on the meat of the Word of God. They just don’t want to grow up because they would mean that they would have to accept responsibility for their faith.
One of the characteristics of true faith is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27) Are we putting this into practice in our daily walk with the LORD?
CHALLENGE: It is time to put away the childish things of the Christian life and move on to not speaking as a child or understanding like a child or thinking as a child but acting like a mature believer by putting childish habits away.
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