Jeremiah 20

Verse of the Day: V9 “Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His Word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”

1.  Suffering Is Tough

V2 “Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.”

The Prophet Jeremiah was called a weeping prophet among all prophets because he suffered the most. He was beaten and imprisoned by the High Priest for preaching the Word of God. It was tough for Jeremiah as he lived and preached during the days when the High Priest’s and the people’s hearts were very far away from God. They wanted to kill Jeremiah as he was very persistent in preaching and calling them to repent of their sins and get right with God!

2.  Sarcasm is Tough

V7 “O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.”

The High Priests and the people kept hurling sarcasm at Jeremiah as he kept preaching the Word of God. Instead of being appreciated by his people, Jeremiah became their laughingstock. Jeremiah could not take it anymore as he thought of quitting and even cursed the day he was born.

V14 “Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.”

3.  Staying Is Tough

V9 “Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name ...”

As Jeremiah considered tendering his resignation as the Prophet of God and never to mentioned God’s name nor speak in His name, the Almighty God spoke and encouraged him to stay put, dig in and press on in his service of the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!

V9 “... But His Word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”

Let us not quit loving and serving the Lord even though the going gets tough as God shall grant us the strength and the grace to serve Him like He gave to His Prophet Jeremiah.
 
Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please help me to keep on trusting You and not quit.

Jeremiah 19

Verse of the Day: V15 “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.”

1.  Man Rebels

V15 “... because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.”

Since the day of Adam and Eve, man has hardened their necks and rebelled against God. When God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they rebelled and ate the fruit and caused sin and death to enter into all men.

Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

2.  Man Reaps

V5 “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:”

The people worshipped Baal or the Devil by cruelly sacrificing their sons as burnt offerings and subsequently God punished them by letting them eat the flesh of their friends and even their own children in order to survive the long siege of their enemies!

V9 “And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one of the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.”

3.  God Reigns

V15 “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.”

Since creation and throughout the centuries man has been trying to outsmart and outwit God but they fail to realize that they can never really win God because He reigns forever on earth and in heaven. The truth of the matter is that man shall reap what he sows and if he rebels against God, he shall reap the severe punishment from the Almighty God.

Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please help me submit to You and not harden my neck against You.

Jeremiah 18

Verse of the Day: V4 “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

1.  God is Perfect

V4 “And the vessel that he made of clay ...”

The skilful potter already knows the final outcome, design, beauty and function of the vessel before he even start making and molding the plain and muddy clay. Similarly the perfect God already knows the final outcome, design, beauty and function of His people before He even start making and molding His people made in His image and who believe in Him. The workmanship or function of God’s people who believe in Him is ultimately to do good works through loving Him and obeying and walking in His commandments.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

2.  God is Forgiving

V4 “And the vessel that He made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, ...”

God never gives up on Christians even when we fail Him time and time again. Just like the potter who makes the marred or spoilt vessel again and again into perfection, God shall forgive us again and again as we confess and forsake our sins. It may take years but we shall finally be the perfect vessels as God calls us home in heaven one day!

Revelation 22:5 “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”

3.  God is Good 

V4 “And the vessel that He made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

The beauty and perfection of the vessel shall reflect upon the beauty and perfection of the potter. Similarly, the beauty and perfection of Christians shall reflect the beauty and perfection of the good God. However, there is a great price of suffering and humbling of Christians in order for us to attain perfection for the eternal glory of Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:10 “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please help me to be perfect as You are perfect.

Jeremiah 17

Verse of the Day: V9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Many people have heart troubles because of our stressful lifestyle as we worry much and fail to eat healthy food and fail to exercise regularly. Some developed serious heart diseases and suffered heart attacks and died. However, there is one heart trouble which is far worse than medical heart trouble; it is spiritual heart trouble.

1.  Don’t Trust Man

V5 “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.”

What is spiritual heart trouble?  Spiritual heart trouble is that without God, we are cursed by God.

How do we seek the cure for our spiritual heart trouble?  We must seek the cure from God as only He can truly heal our spiritual heart disease.

V7 “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.”

2.  Don’t Trust Heart

V9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Many think that we are not as evil and wicked as those who kill or rob others. Yet deep in our heart we know we need God to be our Great Surgeon to do a heart transplant for us to replace our deceitful and wicked heart with a pure and holy heart.

3.  Only Trust God 

V10 “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.”

Let us confess our wickedness and believe in our heart that Jesus is our Lord and receive Him into our heart that we shall have a new heart from Him to live a new life for Him! 

Ezekiel 18:31 “Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please help me to believe in You and give me a new heart to love You with all my heart.

Jeremiah 15

Verse of the Day:  V16 “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.”

1.  Moses

V1 “Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.”

God assured His prophet Jeremiah that it was not because of Jeremiah’s failure as a prophet or his lack of faith, that the people continued in sins and wickedness, but it is because the people themselves had chosen to sin against God. Even if Moses (who received and taught the people of Israel God’s Ten Commandments written with the finger of God) was to stand before God and plead with God not to judge and punish Israel, God would still judge and punish Israel. Israel had willfully stretched the love and longsuffering of God and it was time for God to execute His judgment upon them.

Exodus 31:18 “And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony (God’s Ten Commandments), tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

2.  Samuel

God also encouraged Jeremiah that even Samuel (the first prophet of Israel who showed or taught God’s word to Saul, the first king of Israel) was to stand before God and plead with God not to judge and punish Israel, God would still judge and punish Israel.

1 Samuel 9:27 “And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.”

3.  Jeremiah

V16 “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.”

The only remedy for Israel to be spared from God’s judgment was to truly love God’s word by eating His word like what Jeremiah did. To eat God’s word is to hide God’s word in our hearts that we may not sin against Him. Indeed, only God’s word can keep us away from sins, otherwise sins will keep us away from God’s Word.

Psalms 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please help me to truly love Your Word and to enjoy reading, meditating,  memorizing and hiding it in my heart that I might not sin against You.

Jeremiah 16

Verse of the Day:  V17 “For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.”

Many people try to run away from God as they refuse to trust and obey God and His Word. Yet no matter, how far we try to run even to the ends of the world, the North or the South Pole, we can never hide from God because He is omnipresent or everywhere.

1.  God Knows Your Ways

V17 “For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, …”

God knows your ways since He created you in your mother’s womb. He knows every single rein or inner part of you. There is nothing in you that God does not know.

Psalms 139:13-14 “For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

King David of the Old Testament acknowledged and praised God for fearfully and wonderfully creating him in his mother’s womb long before he knew that he would be anointed as the King of Israel and called a man after God’s heart.

2.  God Knows Your Sins

V17 “For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.”

Just like King David, prophet Jeremiah knew that the nation of Israel could never hide their ways and iniquities or sins from God. They knew that they shall reap the grave consequences of their sins if they refused to repent and turn to God.

V18 “And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.”

3.  God Knows You

V21 “Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.”

Let us stop wasting our time and life by running away from God but fully commit our lives to the Lord. The Lord is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscience (all knowing) and omnipresent (all present) and there is nothing He cannot do, nothing He does not know and no where He cannot go!

Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please help me to be in the centre of Your perfect will, work and Word.

Jeremiah 14

Verse of the Day: V20 “We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.”

How do you know the true prophets from the false prophets?
 
1.  The False Prophets

V14 “Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.”

The false prophets preach what people want to hear. They would preach on ways of getting rich and famous, and how God can prosper them as they give generously to Him. The false prophets would never preach on holiness, repentance of sins and the judgment of God as these are unpopular sermons for people in sins!

2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
 
2.  The True Prophets

V17 “Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.”

The true prophets preach what is in the heart of God. They preach God’s holiness and righteousness and that the people of God must be holy and righteous. We will never fully understand and experience God’s sorrow and tears until we have rebellious children who have strayed away from us. We will pray day and night in sorrow and tears and even to the extent that God will chastise and punish them so that they will come back to God!

Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercise thereby.”

3.  The Forgiving God

V20 “We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.”

As the true prophet Jeremiah preached to the people, they repented their sins and turned to God, and God forgave them!

Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please help me to be righteous before You.

Jeremiah 13

Verse of the Day: V15 “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.”

1.  The Linen Girdle

V1 “Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.”

In those days, the girdle was very useful as it was like a belt fastens to the loin or waist of a person wearing a long and flowing garment. Linen was an expensive material and as such a linen girdle was a prized possession. God through His prophet Jeremiah liken the linen girdle as a prized possession of God. However, instead of giving glory to God, the nation of Israel became proud and thought highly of themselves and refused to hear and obey God’s commandments. As a result, God had to humble His people by allowing their enemies to defeat them.

2.  The Marred Girdle

V7 “Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.”

God humbled Israel by allowing the Babylonians living in Euphrates, not only to attack and defeat them, but brought them as slaves to their nation. This was exactly prophesied by Jeremiah that the defeated Israel was like the expensive linen girdle which was hidden, marred and became unprofitable.

2 Kings 24:16 “And the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.”

3.  The Cleaned Girdle

V23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”

Indeed, God can change a dark Ethiopian to a fair Ethiopian, a spotted leopard to an unspotted leopard, because He is the Creator and the Maker of all things! God can do anything and with Him, nothing is impossible! God shall surely change an evil and wicked heart to a kind and good heart if we humble ourselves and submit to Him!

John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”

James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”

Prayer of the Week

Dearest God, please humble me and help me to know that without You, I am nothing.

Jeremiah 12

Verse Of The Day: V5 “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”

Like the common saying, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst!” Indeed, Jeremiah was preparing Israel for the worst, the impending destruction of their lives, because of  their sins and wickedness, unless they repent of their sins and turn to God.

1.  Running with Horses

V5 “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? ...”

Jeremiah challenged Israel not only to train to run with their footmen but with their horses as one day they would be fighting and running with both their enemies’ footmen and horses. Similarly, Christians must daily pray, read and study God’s Word and apply them in our life so that we are always prepared for the worst including illnesses and death.

1 Peter 4:12 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:”

2.  Crossing the Rivers

V5 “… and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”

Jeremiah also challenged Israel to prepare to trust God for the impossible such as the crossing of the swelling Jordan River as their forefathers did many years ago when they crossed the Jordan River dry!

Joshua 3:17 “And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.”

3.  Obeying the LORD

Jeremiah 12:17 “But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.”

Indeed, there is no other way to prepare for the worst including death, except to trust and obey God, knowing that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord!

2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

Prayer Of The Week

Dearest God, please help me to prepare for the worst by trusting and obeying You.

Jeremiah 11

Verse Of The Day: V2 “Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;”

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, had been preaching to the people to repent of their sins and obey the words of God’s covenant or laws, yet the people not only refused to believe and obey God’s laws, they conspired and plotted to kill the man of God, Jeremiah!
 
1.  God was rejected by man

V19 “But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”

Jeremiah was like a lamb brought to the slaughter as he was not only rejected by man but was about to be killed by his own countrymen, the men of Anathoth.

John 4:44 “For Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.”

2.  God was killed by man

V21 “Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:”

His people, the men of Anathoth, threatened to kill Jeremiah if he continued to preach to them to repent of their sins. Jesus was also crucified by His own people, the Jews, when He preached to them to repent of their sins and believe in Him, the Son of God.

John 19:15 “But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him, Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.”

3.  God shall condemn man

V23 “And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.”

Jesus was buried but He rose again the third day conquering death, and those who believe in Him shall live forever, while those who rejected Him are already condemned.

John 3:18 “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Prayer Of The Week

Dearest God, please help me to believe in You, and the Lord Jesus, the Son of God.