JEREMIAH 17-21: DAY 111 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
April 21, 2023
JEREMIAH 17-21
DAY 111 JOURNEY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
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Focus Verses For Today: Jeremiah 17:5-8
As we journey through Jeremiah 17-21, the Lord’s anger grows. Jeremiah wishes that he was never born. The people of Israel, described by God as “stiff necked,” allow hardened hearts to direct their destiny.
Ask God for His understanding of Jeremiah 17-21. Read Jeremiah 17-21. Let’s journey!
Jeremiah 17-21: Today’s reading reveals what is going on in Judah. God grows increasingly angry with the sin and idol worship of the people of Judah. God tells Jeremiah to advise the people of Judah that Judgment is coming if they don’t put away their false gods (idols) and repent of their sinful ways. If they refuse, God will send unimaginable judgment upon His people. Judah’s response is to plot against Jeremiah. The priest, Pashhur has Jeremiah put in stockades for a night for proclaiming God’s prophecy. Prophecy is so powerful that Jeremiah cannot contain it within himself. Sadly they knew that Jeremiah was God’s true prophet, as evidenced by King Zedekiah asking Jeremiah for God’s protection from the Babylonians. God refused Zedekiah’s request because Judah was not like Judah of the past – a Judah that did not worship false gods or find joy in sin. King Zedekiah’s Judah had rejected God for false gods and the fleeting pleasure of sin. (Jeremiah 17:1-21:14)
Our focus verses for today:
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
(Jeremiah 17:5-8, NIV)
God loved Judah. He wanted them to return to Him. Our focus verses share that God did not and will not tolerate the worship of false gods and lives devoted to sin. God asked Judah to repent and put away their false gods and return to Him the only God, the true God, the God of the people of Israel. From our reading today, the people of Judah of that time are not much different than we are today. We ignore or give God a diminished role in our life until trouble (Babylon) rises before us and there is nowhere else to turn. Wouldn’t it be better to walk daily with God than to only turn to Him in moments of crisis? Could a time come, like it did for King Zedekiah, when He will not hear our plea for help?
Godspeace!
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