I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 26-27.

    God sent Jeremiah to the Temple with a message for the people of Jerusalem. Jeremiah went and prophesied that if they did not turn from their sins and obey God, He would bring disaster on Jerusalem and destroy the Temple. However, those who heard him speak only paid attention to the second part. They accused Jeremiah of being a traitor because he prophesied that God would destroy the Temple. There were other prophets giving similar prophecies during this time. King Jehoiakim had at least one of those prophets killed. Nevertheless, there were some government officials who stood up for Jeremiah and prevented the mob from killing him.
    There are a couple of lessons here. We must be willing to stand up against popular opinion to express God’s word, even when that popular opinion is backed by both violence and government sanction. Further, we must be willing to stand up against the crowd when they are bent on committing an injustice, again, even in the face of possible government sanction. Finally, we should be prepared to listen to unpopular opinions and consider whether God is calling us to change our behaviors.

    Once again in today’s passage, Jeremiah acts out the message which God has given him. In this case Jeremiah wears an ox yoke in order to make the point that Judah and its neighbors must submit to King Nebuchadnezzar. This was certainly an unpopular opinion and many of those who opposed Jeremiah’s message would have argued that it was better to die in war against King Nebuchadnezzar than to submit to him. They might even have had a point if they were arguing for living according to God’s commands rather than submitting the King Nebuchadnezzar. However, the Book of Jeremiah tells us that they were claiming that they should resist King Nebuchadnezzar in order to pursue their own desires and wishes.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 23-25.

    Our society toady is fast heading towards being just like the people to whom Jeremiah prophesied in today’s passage. Many of our leaders are encouraging division among us rather than acting to unite us. More and more people choose to do evil, and it seems like everyone who has any power whatsoever is abusing it. Even many of our religious leaders are revealed as wicked. Rather than call people to follow the Lord, they are telling those who follow their own selfish desires that no harm will come to them. It makes you wonder if these religious leaders have ever known God. Those who have truly heard what God has to say will be calling for people to turn from their sins. They will challenge the assumptions of our society. They will call on people to help the poor, rather than on the government to force them to do so. They will seek to heal those who are suffering from mental disorders rather than telling them that their delusions are real. They will call on people to treat each other as children of God rather than as objects to satisfy our own desires. I want to go back to something Jeremiah said near the beginning of this passage. Everyone does evil and abuses what power they have. When those who do not abuse their power are the exception God’s judgment will not be long in coming.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 19-22.

    The passage begins with Jeremiah leading some of the prominent men of Jerusalem out to the garbage dump where he warns them that God is going to smash Jerusalem like a clay jar. We see here, and elsewhere in the Book of Jeremiah, the value of illustrating our message. Jeremiah does not just tell these people that God is going to smash Jerusalem like a clay pot and throw it on the trash heap, he takes them out to the city dump and smashes a clay pot as part of preaching this message. But there is more to Jeremiah’s message than just his theatrics and more meaning to his choice of locations than just the fact that it was a garbage dump. Jeremiah told them that God was going to smash Jerusalem because the people of Jerusalem spilled the blood of innocent children. They sacrificed their children here in the valley of Ben-Hinnom despite the fact that King Josiah had defiled it by turning it in to a garbage dump. Every time I read the Old Testament prophets condemning the people of Jerusalem for sacrificing their children I think of modern day abortion. There is a growing segment of our society which views abortion as a sacrament, not as a “regrettable necessity” but as a positive good. If this continues the United States will face the same sort of destruction which Jeremiah prophesied for Jerusalem.

    When the priest in charge of the Temple learned of what Jeremiah had done he had him arrested, whipped, and put in stocks overnight. Later this same priest, Pashhur, came to Jeremiah on behalf of the king to ask Jeremiah to beg God for aid against King Nebuchadnezzar. The answer God gave to Jeremiah was that no assistance would be coming. The people of Jerusalem, from the lowest to the highest, had a choice to make: they could surrender to the Babylonians, or die. Just as Pashhur had told the people that God loved them and all would be well, despite their continued sins, there are religious leaders today who preach the same message. Pashhur attempted to silence Jeremiah’s calling people to repentance. So too do many religious leaders today.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 16-18.

    In today’s passage Jeremiah confronts the people of Jerusalem about their failure to maintain the Sabbath. I remember a time when almost no one in this country did business on Sunday. Not only were most businesses closed, but most people chose not to frequent those which were open. Little by little people made exceptions for themselves for certain kinds of businesses, until now there are few people who set aside a day where they do not ever do business. The change has been both on the business side and on the consumer side. Years ago few businesses were open on Sunday and few people would have done business with them if they were. Today, few businesses are closed on Sunday and there are few people who refuse to do any business on that day. My limited observations suggest that few businesses actually do more business by being open on Sunday. I worked for a store that made the transition from being closed on Sunday to being open on Sunday. The result was that their Saturday sales volume dropped by about the amount of Sunday sales they gained, perhaps a little more. I am not sure where I am going with this, except to say that each one of us should set aside a day where we do not do business, where we focus on serving God. That day does not need to be Sunday (or Saturday).

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 13-15.

    Every day since I began reading Jeremiah this year I have struggled while reading the passage to see what I would write about. And every day as I was reading I saw an isolated verse or phrase which spoke to me. The same thing has happened again today. Having found that one passage (some days there were two or three, but not today) I went back and read the passage again and found something else I wanted to comment on.

    Jeremiah’s story about the loincloth and its message is as relevant today as it was when he first told it. We, every last one of us, was made to cling to God, to obey and serve Him. Our pride leads us to reject our role with God, seeking instead a role of greater prominence with other gods. However, rather than gaining greater value, we become something which must be discarded. We cannot change ourselves. Only by humbly accepting the role which God created us for can we attain any value. We must allow Him to change us into what He desires us to be.

    Now I come to the phrase which struck me and I see that it connects, to a degree, with what I just wrote. If we return to God, He will restore us. As rotten and worthless as our sin and pride have made us, God is capable of restoring us to being a garment which serves Him. We must speak the words which God will give us, not the worthless words which those around us want to hear. We live among people who refuse to listen to God, our calling is to influence them, but we must be careful to not allow that to go the other direction. We must not allow them to influence us.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 10-12.

    The beginning of this passage contains a description of building an idol. When I was a child I learned that people do not worship idols made that way any more. Now, as an adult I know people who do. The interesting thing about this is that at least some of those people complain about Christians rejecting science. It tells us a lot about human nature that this is happening in a society which also produced people who worship science.

    Jeremiah tells us that people who worship such “gods” are stupid and foolish. I believe that he is correct. However, the people I know who have taken up such worship have done so in order to establish a sense of community. This reflects poorly on the Church in America. Although I will say that part of their perceived need for this results from their a priori rejection of Christianity.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

    The people of Jerusalem thought that they were safe because the Temple was in Jerusalem. However, Jeremiah told them that they were mistaken. If they did not stop wallowing in evil thoughts and deeds they would indeed suffer the consequences. Jeremiah spelled out the sins which would lead to disaster. That list could be taken from the headlines today. Time and again we hear about how people are not treated with justice, and there are always those who are cheering on the injustice. We have a major debate going on over illegal aliens. No one involved appears to care that they are being exploited and are being used to allow others to be exploited as well. As a people we worship many things other than God, to our own detriment.

    Jeremiah goes on to condemn the people of Jerusalem for killing their own children as offerings to their idols, much as our society today does in the name of convenience. Rather than turn back when we have discovered that we have chosen the wrong path we compound our self-destructive behaviors. Even those who claim to follow God twist His words to support doing wrong. Our wise counselors tell us that our problem is our feeling of guilt, not the sin which leads to it. Rather than teach people to change the behaviors which destroy their lives, they teach people to not feel bad for doing wrong.

    Jeremiah reminds us that if we must boast we should not boast of our wealth, or our power, not even of our wisdom. The only thing which truly counts is whether we know God and understand that He is Lord (“the one to be obeyed”). As Paul states in Galatians what counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation by God’s Spirit. If we are going to boast, let us boast about God. When I speak to those around me who suffer from emotional and psychological distress, my lack of similar distress does not come from me being wiser, richer, more powerful than they. My lack of similar distress is the result of God transforming me. My lack of suffering is not because I am better than others. It is because God’s Spirit has changed me as He will do for them if they but ask.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 4-6.

    The passage begins with Jeremiah predicting the coming destruction of Jerusalem. He writes of people who, rather than mourn and turn to God, attempt to act as if all is well as disaster overtakes them. Then he goes into the cause of the coming destruction. God sought honest people among the people of Jerusalem and did not find them. The same warning applies to us today. Honesty is no longer practiced. When you look among the poor and downtrodden you do not find it, but perhaps that can be understood because they have so little. The poor see themselves as having nothing to gain from honesty and do not understand the connection between it and success. So, you look among the wealthy and the leaders, but there we do not find honesty either. They believe that they can lie and cheat because no one can hold them to account.

    How did it come to this state? Jeremiah provides the answer to that as well. People became obsessed with sex. They have turned away from God and rejected His decrees because they did not like what God said. Look at our society, you can no longer tell people that God’s commands about how we exercise our sexuality are for our benefit. God does not tell us to refrain from adultery and homosexuality in order to limit our pleasure. He does so in order to enhance our joy. God does not tell us to be upright and honest to limit our opportunities for advancement. He does so because an upright and honest life is more fulfilling than any other kind. More importantly, a society which values and honors the upright and honest, where the majority follow that lifestyle, is more prosperous and powerful than one where everyone seeks to deceive others for their personal benefit.

    If you look around the evidence is everywhere that those who live by God’s commands are better off than those who do not. If you listen to people talk you can hear that most of their troubles in life come from not following God’s guidelines. Yet despite this, people do not see it and they do not hear it. Time and again people come to the crossroads where they must choose their way.
“Choose the old way, the godly way,” they are told.
“No,” they reply, “we want something new and different.”
People keep telling us that we need to change with the times, but they fail to recognize that change for change’s sake is not a good thing. All too often, I see people refuse to change sinful behaviors, but reject godliness because it is old-fashioned. The godly way may be old-fashioned, but it is proven to lead to happiness.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 1-3.

    The calling of the prophet Jeremiah contains several elements which apply to each and every one of us. God knew us before we were conceived and He formed us in our mother’s womb to fulfill the purpose for which He would call us. When the time comes for us to answer God’s calling He will put His words in our mouth and will guide our hands to the task He has for us. But the thing which struck me the most today was God’s instruction to not be afraid of those to whom He sent us to speak. If we allow fear of our listeners to temper the words God has given us, He will make us look foolish in front of them. Time and again I have seen people who declare a truth make fools of themselves by partially or fully retracting it when those to whom it applies take offense. This does not mean that we should not be willing to apologize when we offend someone by misspeaking or even saying something wrong. But if what we said was the truth we should stand by it.

    The topic I want to write about requires care because what I want to say can easily be taken incorrectly. Where Jeremiah wrote about bringing the people of Israel into a fruitful land which they promptly defiled I thought of the original settlers in what is now the United States. When those original settlers arrived they found a fruitful land much of which was now uninhabited because those who lived there had been killed by disease. However, rather than accept the bounty which they had been given and serving God in that land they soon tried to drive out those few people who remained. Those settlers did not do anything which is not common to man throughout history, but they had the opportunity to mold something which was so much better. I believe that time and again God has called the people who live in what is now the United States to serve Him, and time and again some fraction of them have answered that call. As a result those who live here have been blessed. However, time and again the majority of people living here have squandered God’s blessings in their idolatrous worship of themselves.