I had time to read the bible today and knew i had to read it. As i thought about what i should read, the book of Jeremiah came to mind. And thus, i would like to share with all of you, believers and non-believers alike, some excerpts from Jeremiah that spoke to me. I'm not well-versed in theology but what i understand of the book of Jeremiah, is that God is speaking to Jeremiah to ask him to go proclaim God's jugdgement on Israel and Judah, for they have strayed away from God. Jeremiah is called by God to be a prophet to these nations. And from chapters 1 to 16, God is speaking to Jeremiah on what to say to these nations and how He is going to punish these nations.
I would leave the verses as they are written in the bible. I hope God will speak to u, even as u read, and most importantly, let you hearts and ears be open to listen to what God says in his word.
" I will pronounce my jugdements on my people, because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods, and in worshiping what their hands have made."
"Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way?"
"Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realise how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me, declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty."
"My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever? This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can."
"Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord, i will frown on you no longer, for i am merciful, declares the Lord, i will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt-- you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favours to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me, declares the Lord."
How gladly would i treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you would call me 'Father' and not run away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord."
"Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding."
"If you will return, O Israel, return to me, declares the Lord. If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, as if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, As surely as the Lord lives, then the nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will glory."
"My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good."
"This is what the Lord says: The whole land will be runined, though i will not destroy it completely. Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because i have spoken and will not relent, i have decided and will not turn back."
"I thought, these are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So i will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds."
"Yet even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not destroy you completely."
"To whom can i speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their eyes are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it."
"Hear, O earth, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words, and have rejected my law. What do i care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me."
"They are called rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them."
"This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and i willl let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord! If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the aliens, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then i will let you live in this place, in the land i gave to your forefathers for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless."
" Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name and say we are safe--safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But i have been watching! declares the Lord."
"For when i brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, i did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but i gave them this command: Obey me, and i will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways i command you, that it may be well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backwards and not forward."
" This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips."
" This is what the Lord says: when men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return? Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away?"
"But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord."
" Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?"
"Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?"
" Since my people are crushed, i am crushed; I mourn, and horror gripes me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?"
" I would weep day and night for the slain of my people."
"You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me, declares the Lord."
"What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain this? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?"
"This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boasts about this: that he understands and knows me, that i am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these i delight, declares the Lord."
"For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."
" Do not learn the way of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrifed by them."
" Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk."
" Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good."
"But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King.When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath."
"The shepherds are senseless, and do not inquire of the Lord; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered."
"I said, Obey me and do everything i command you, and you will be my people, and i will be your God."
" Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because i will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress. What is my beloved doing in my temple as she works out her evil schemes with many? Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice."
" The Lord Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal."
" They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. So bear the shame of your harvest because of the Lord's fierce anger."
" Can the Ethopian change his skin or the leopard change it spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil."
" When you tell the people all this and they ask you, Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God? then say to them, It is because your fathers forsook me, declares the Lord and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubborness of his evil heart instead of obeying me. So i will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for i will show you no favour."
" Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!"
"Therefore i will teach them -- this time i will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the Lord."
as i read this book from chp 1-16, i felt troubled, scared, appalled, yet i know in silent nods, what is said is true. I see behind the rationale for God's cruel jugdement, unconditional love for his people. I see that God is holy, he cannot and will not tolerate sin in his people. Even in his just jugdement, he shows compassion. If only the people repent and come back to him. He gave his people the choice to come back to him. Are his people choosing him? The God who made them, who created the heavens and the earth.
Are you like the Israelites, have you forgotten God, have your heart grown cold towards him? The only one you know who loves u more than you love yourself. The one who rescued and embraced you in ur times of sorrow and pain. Is there any sins in our lives that we need to repent of and seek God's forgiveness? Sins that hinder you from coming back to God, to enjoy and receive his blessings? Can you remember? Are you coming back to him?
His door has never been closed.
