Sayre Woods Bible Church

A couple verses stood out at me as I read through Jeremiah 2 this morning:

I brought you into a fertile land so you could enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty. But when you entered my land, you defiled it; you made the land I call my own loathsome to me. (2:7)

As I read this verse, the song “The Heart of Worship” came to the front of my mind and this verse was immediately associated with worship. Our worship is something that is supposed to be pleasing to the Lord, but when we make it about our pleasure, our preferences, and our glory, we defile it and make it loathsome to him (and quite frankly, I don’t think we truly enjoy it either because it makes us bitter and critical). When we make it about him, however, it becomes what it was meant to be: pleasing both to God and to us.

What good will it do you then to go down to Egypt to seek help from the Egyptians? What good will it do you to go over to Assyria and seek help from the Assyrians?…Moreover, you will come away from Egypt with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame because the LORD will not allow your reliance on them to be successful and you will not gain any help from them. (2:18, 37)

Israel was often guilty of what most people are guilty of: seeking help from human sources instead of from heavenly sources. If Israel had turned to God and obeyed his commandments, they would have prospered. Instead, they chose the easy way out and sought help from Egypt and Assyria, two traditional powers in the area, and it led to their destruction. As American Christians, I think we need to be careful of this as well. Too often I think we take the easy way out in our quest to bring faith and justice to our nation. We vote, we write letters to our Congressmen, we protest. In essence, we put our faith in the American political process to help us fulfill our call from God. While none of these things are bad in and of themselves, we must be careful not to put our trust in them to work, for the political system was established by humans and thus cannot even be trusted to fulfill human plans much less God’s plans. Our trust should always be in the processes that God has established for us to use: ministering to children, widows, and the poor, preaching God’s word, and loving God and our neighbor.

The Bible recounts numerous stories of God calling a person to service and so we also have many examples of how people respond to God’s call. I have always tended to believe that if you look hard enough, you will find someone whose response mirrors your own. For me, that person is Jeremiah. I came to faith when I was 15 and almost immediately began serving in various ministries. Because I was so young and serving with and to people older, wiser, and more experienced than myself, I often told God something like, “Oh, Lord GOD, I really do not know how to speak well enough for that, for I am too young.” (1:6) I especially felt too young to be able to do anything in the context of the Church, where youth is often reason enough for people to ignore you. Because of this God’s words to Jeremiah have often been a rallying point for me, serving as both a reminder and a comfort when I feel too young or too inadequate to make a difference, and there are a few points in particular that I want to bring out that I think can help people of any stage in life:

1) Just do it! This phrase was Nike’s slogan for a long time when I was growing up, and I never really understood its purpose, but I think this is what God tells Jeremiah in verse 7. “The LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” But go to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you.’” Before God says anything else to Jeremiah, he tells him to stop objecting and to start obeying. Sometimes God wants us to obey his call before he explains it to us. He had already told Jeremiah in verse 5 that there was a divine plan for him, set in motion before he was born. That should have been enough for Jeremiah to obey. It should be enough for us to obey.

2) Do not be afraid…for I will be with you to protect you. (1:8) The second thing God does is remind Jeremiah that there is no reason to be afraid because the Lord’s presence will be his protection. Throughout Scripture God reminds the people he has called about this promise, a promise that we also have received. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:20). I will never leave you and I will never abandon you. (Heb. 13:5)

3) Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me.” (v. 9). We must always remember that God will not call us without also giving us the ability to complete the task. He will never set us up for failure. If God is calling me to do something, he has or will enable me to complete it.

4) I hereby give you the authority. (v. 10). This I think is extremely important for today’s young people (including myself) to remember. The secular world (and especially the media) caters to teens and young adults, making it seem as if we are important and worth listening to simply because we are young (almost the exact opposite of the typical attitude of the Church). It is easy for me to carry that belief into the Church setting and think that everyone should listen to me simply because I’m young or because I’m able to understand what unbelieving young people are thinking and feeling. This isn’t what God says, however. I am not to speak or serve on my own authority, but by God’s authority. I cannot bring my own agenda to the table. I cannot disobey other commandments of God (such as the one about respecting those in authority) in the process of obeying God’s call on my life.

5) God will confirm his calling. When I was a new Christian I was always curious as to how I should know when God was calling me. I heard Christians talking about “feeling” that God wanted them to do something and wondered how they knew it wasn’t just indigestion. But I think I have a little better grasp on this concept now. In verses 11 and following, God confirms Jeremiah’s calling and I believe he does that with us as well. Its easy to get emotional when hearing a missionary recount the horrors of war or hunger around the world, but feeling empathy or sympathy does not equal a calling on your life. But if time after time you feel God nudging you in a specific direction or ministry, you’d better start to listen. If God tweaks your heart every time there is a call for nursery help or children’s church teachers or short term missions trips, then it may be time to pray and consult the pastors because God may be calling you. Think about when God called Samuel. He kept calling until Samuel responded. Is it time for me to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”?

6) God knows what you need. After God confirms Jeremiahs call, he gives Jeremiah a final reminder not to be afraid. In verses 17-18, God tells him not to be terrified and promises that he will rescue him from danger. God understands that we humans are weak and scared and insecure. He knows that we need constant reassurance of his presence, and because of this, he will give us the constant reassurance. It may be through Scripture verses where he promises to be with us; it may be through the stirring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts; it may be through the encouragement of a brother or sister in Christ, but God will remind us that he is with us and that he will help us fulfill our calling.

Jeremiah 2 illustrates how Israel forsook God. The nation started out in love with God, like a new bride with her husband. But then, over time, Israel abandoned God and went after false gods.

You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving—in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her. Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’

Yet in spite of all this you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you go about so much, changing your ways?

The picture of running around, here and there, trying to find satisfaction is what hit me this morning. Israel did not want God. Even though He was their only source of joy and satisfaction, Israel wanted something else. It is like offering a thirsty man cold water, but instead he rejects it because he would rather have Coke–something fizzy, different and exciting that tastes good but ultimately does not quench one’s thirst. In fact, I read recently that Coke is actually a diuretic that, in the end, makes you even more thirsty! Sin does the same thing. It entices us with its fizzy bubbles but in the end leaves us thirstier than before.

Jeremiah’s picture is more graphic. He compares Israel to an animal in heat, sniffing the wind and running around frantically looking for a mate. God gently encourages them to stop but they snap back at God, “It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.” It’s like an addiction. I know it is harming me but I have to have it! Wow, we can really mess ourselves up, can’t we?

The sad thing is that in the midst of all this, Israel maintained its innocence. “I am innocent; God is not angry with me.” It is amazing the mental gymnastics we can do. We can abandon God, run wild after temporary, sinful lusts, and then look God and others in the face and say, “I am innocent. God is okay with me. After all I am just a likeable person when you get past all the grime in my life.”

It is interesting that the reason God says He is going to pass judgment on Israel is “because you say, ‘I have not sinned’” (2:35). A person struggling with sin, fighting lust, battling the pull of addiction, and failing at times, still has hope because they know they need help. They know their life is not where it is supposed to be. It is when a person becomes self-deluded in their sin, comfortable in it, “innocent” in it, that God passes judgment.

I am reminded what Jesus said in Mark 2:17, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus has come to save all mankind from their sins but it is only the ones who know they are sick and need a doctor who ultimately receive the cure.

Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me from myself. Keep me from running after the temporary pleasures of sin and help me to find my rest in You.

Jeremiah is not a book that is studied too often. Reading it chapter by chapter should be a challenge–especially trying to understand some of the symbolism and the historical context. Hopefully going through it slowly will help. Please chime in along the way if you have questions or thoughts.

Jeremiah is actually the “longest book in the Bible, containing more words than any other Bible book” (NIV Study Bible). That’s hard to believe since Isaiah has 66 chapters and there are 150 Psalms but apparently it is true. Anyone want to count words ;>)?

Jeremiah is often called the “weeping prophet.” He was an emotional man, prophesying God’s impending judgment on the rapidly declining nation of Israel. This message broke his heart since he loved his nation and his people.

Jeremiah’s ministry lasted from about 626 BC to 586 BC during the reigns of the good king Josiah and the bad kings Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. Thus, for most of Jeremiah’s life, he lived in a morally declining nation in which he encountered opposition from all levels of society for his preaching of God’s message.

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ”Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,      before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5)

Jeremiah was intimately known by God and specially set apart by God before he was even conceived. Before Jeremiah’s parents thought of having him, God already knew him and had a plan for him. Pretty wild. Such a thought certainly confirms the sovereignty of God but it also affirms the fact that no one is a mistake. God knows us. Our genetic makeup is no surprise to Him. Our conception is not out of His control. He works within the bounds of natural processes but He is also above these things, working things together for His will.

I guess you could say that these words only apply to Jeremiah and not to us. But I tend to think that these words are meant to apply to us as well. In a different way, to be sure. We are not prophets set apart to record a specific message of Scripture. But we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). That to me says that God knew us and designed us for a purpose before we were even embryos in the womb. He knew our days. He knew our abilities. He knew our weaknesses. And He designed us to accomplish a specific part of His will on earth. It is not fatalism because I also believe we can fight God’s will for us, neglect it, refuse to do it. God will still accomplish His ultimate plan. We just miss out on the blessings of being involved.

Don’t ask me how all this works. I don’t know. But I do know that God has a plan for me, my life is not a mistake, my weaknesses are no surprise to Him, and He wants to use me if I allow Him to.

Lord, help me to walk in step with Your Spirit and fulfill the purpose for which You designed me.