Tag: prophet jeremiah

Jeremiah 23:9-22

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Martin Luther King, Jr. was much like a modern-day prophet.  In all he said and did he kept asking people to close the distance between the values they espoused and their actual behavior.  The terrible treatment King and his allies received during the civil rights movement in marches and demonstrations brought-out the awful gap between our American values of freedom, fairness, and tolerance and the reality that African-Americans really did not possess these in any manner close to the white population.  King’s prophetic ministry forced many people to come face-to-face with the disparity between beliefs and behaviors.
 
            The prophet Jeremiah knew all about such a gulf between expressed values and actual conduct.  And it was a very large chasm.  Like King, Jeremiah was imprisoned, had rocks thrown at him, and was jeered for his message of calling people to live up to God’s agenda for humanity.  White supremacy, or at least white privilege, was taken for granted in much of America before King.  In the same way, Israelite privilege was taken for granted in Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day.  False prophets kept proclaiming Jewish supremacy and insisted that the Lord would be on their side of things.  “But, I, the LORD, tell you that these prophets have never attended a meeting of my council in heaven or heard me speak.”
 
            The spirit of the age simply accepted power, privilege, and pedigree as the norm that ought to always endure.  But God thinks different.  And he sends his prophets to call us back to true justice, righteousness, and peace for all persons – not just for some privileged people who take their freedom for granted.  An exercise in healthy introspection would be to consider what our most cherished values are, and ask whether they are God’s values.  If so, then are those values truly being expressed in our everyday actions and behaviors?
 

 

            All-Seeing God, you know the true state of every heart and every people group.  Do your work of making me holy in all I do and say so that the treasure of Christ’s salvation might be expressed through me in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Jeremiah 17:14-27

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            God had a serious thing about the Sabbath.  Throughout the prophetic books of the Old Testament, the lack of observing a Sabbath day’s rest is consistently mentioned as a reason why judgment was on its way.  And it wasn’t just a side issue for God; He really took umbrage about treating the Sabbath like any other day of the week.  Listen to the cold description:  “If you value your lives, don’t do any work on the Sabbath….  If you keep on carrying things through the city gates on the Sabbath [in order to do business] and keep treating it as any other day, I will set fire to these gates and burn down the whole city, including the fortresses.”
 
            Whoa!  What is that all about?  Such language and warnings are pretty strange to our modern ears.  Why in the world would God be so upset about doing a little business on the Sabbath day?  The reason the Lord held tenaciously to a Sabbath rest is that it was intended as a time of sheer enjoyment and change of pace from all the other days.  It was a chance to connect with God in a special way.  It was an opportunity for God’s people to connect with each other in worship and delight in the unforced rhythms of gracious relationships. 
 
            But for centuries, the people forsook this Sabbath day because they wanted to do business, make some more money, and carry on just like everyone else did in the world.  There will always be work to do – another phone call, one more business connection or task, or correspondence to maintain.  After all, can’t let the competitors get the advantage!  So, if working on the Sabbath is what it took, okay we’ll do it.  But God interpreted all this as a profound lack of faith and stiff-arm in his face.  Rather than trust in the Lord, the slippery slope of a downward relationship with God began with simply not paying attention to the Sabbath.
 
            Whether we need to hold to the actual same Sabbath day rest today for Christians has often been debated.  But what is not up for debate is setting aside a consistent weekly time and place for extended rest with the Lord.  If we see this as negotiable, perhaps we need to spend some more time in the prophetic books.
 

 

            Holy God, you scan the earth looking for faithful people.  May the gift of faith you have given me nurture and grow into a consistent, sustained, and committed life of fellowship with Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Jeremiah 7:1-15

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            One of the dangers of the religious life is slipping into the view that possessing a certain thing protects us from all harm.  Today’s Old Testament lesson is a classic example of succumbing to just such a danger.  The ancient Jews in Jerusalem in the days of the prophet Jeremiah sincerely believed that because they had God’s temple in their city that this would protect them from any kind of attack from the outside.  What is more, the people even thought that they could do whatever they wanted, since the temple was there to protect them.
 
            Separated by centuries, we might see the folly in the Jewish thinking.  Yet, we as Americans can so easily slip into the same mentality.  When we think that we are so great that no one will ever take us over; when we sincerely believe that because we are a missionary-sending nation that God will protect us; when we buy into the notion that we can live however we want, but God would never judge the church that I attend and the group I am a  part of; then, we have come under the same condemnation as the Jews of old, and we need to hear God’s Word.
 
            “While you have been sinning, I have been trying to talk to you, but you refuse to listen.  Don’t think this temple will protect you.”  Jeremiah’s message to the people was:  “Change your ways and start living right… Be fair and honest with each other.  Stop taking advantage of foreigners, orphans, and widows.  Don’t kill innocent people.  And stop worshiping other gods.”
 
            God does not show favoritism based upon whether someone is American, or not; whether one is a particular race, ethnicity, or gender.  He will hold all people accountable.  For whom God has given much, much will be required.
 

 

            Holy God, you still speak today through your Word.  Help me to listen well and pay attention to what you are saying so that I might honor you through humility and obedience for the sake of Jesus.  Amen.

Jeremiah 50:17-20

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Failure is not permanent.  The prophet Jeremiah had a message for Judah that excoriated their sin and wayward lives.  Most did not listen to Jeremiah.  As a result, the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem’s wall and the temple, and took thousands into captivity.  But that was not the end of the story.  There would be a remnant of people who would survive.  The people in exile would return to the land.  When that time comes, “iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those who I leave as a remnant.”
 
            When God forgives, it is a clean slate.  The Lord does not hold people’s sins over their heads to use as leverage at some later point.  A pardon from God means that he takes his divine permanent marker and completely blots out the offense; it is gone.  The good news of the Holy Scriptures is that there is grace for the sinner. 
 
            One of the reasons we humans have such a difficult time forgiving others is because we do not really comprehend the forgiveness of God to us.  But when we discern and understand that God’s pardon means that he gives new life and a fresh start then we have confident hope for the future.  It causes us to forgive others as God has forgiven us.  This happens because we are in a place of spiritual stability and eternal security in Jesus Christ.  It is the secure, not the insecure, who know God’s grace and inherit the kingdom.
 

 

            Forgiving God, you extend your grace to me despite my past actions, attitudes, and words.  Thank you for this undeserved gift of new life.  Enable me to use this gift with great care so that Jesus is glorified.  Amen.