A visit with the Potter

 Read Jeremiah 18.

God told Jeremiah to go to the potter's house and there he would receive a message. 

1. Jeremiah's Observation. (vv.3-4)
The first thing he noticed was the potter at work.  The vessel of clay he fashioned was flawed.  The flaw turned out to be severe enough for the potter to collapse the clay and refashion it "as it seemed good to the potter".

2. God's Declaration. (vv.5-11)
God declared that He is the potter of Israel.  Israel is the clay.  Like the potter, God is not idle.  He is at work shaping the nation.  As Sovereign Owner, it His right and responsibility to fashion and refashion the nation as He sees fit.  "You are in my hand" (v.6).  The LORD saw the flaw of evil in them and has declared that the nation will be collapsed in order to be reshaped.  They are still His and He will use them but not in their present condition.  His offer to relent is not a change of mind on God's part but an invitation for the people to change and repent of their sin. 

3. The People's Condition. (v.12)
"But they say, 'That is in vain!  We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"  It truly is an insane response.  Clay has no power in itself.  It is totally dependent on the potter.  For the clay to question or resist the potter is what is vain.  The Apostle Paul used the same analogy in Romans 9.  "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?  Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?'" (Romans 9:20) 

The best thing any person can do is to be totally submissive to the One who is shaping their life.  Adelaide A. Pollard wrote:
"Have Thine own way, Lord!  Have Thine own way!
Thou are the Potter; I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord!  Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

 

Got Water?

 Read Jeremiah 17.

A sure sign of life is health and growth.  Sin will destroy both in one's spiritual life.  Those who place their faith in man-made schemes, instead of exclusively trusting God, will pay a severe price.

In verse 6, Judah's spiritual condition is compared to a shrub in the desert.  With no sustenance, the shrub produces nothing of any value.  The plant is pictured as being alone in salty soil that actually kills life.

The opposite is true of those who trust in the LORD (vv.7-8).  They stand like a tree, not a shrub.  They have been planted where the roots are well watered and the environment does not affect its vitality.  In verse 13, the LORD is called "the fountain of living water."

This chapter serves as a bridge passage between Psalm 1 and John 4.
Psalm 1:3 describes the one who constantly delights in God's word as "a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers."

Jesus spoke to the woman at the well in John 4:10, 13-14 and said, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."  "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Got water?

 

Faith in the day of Trouble

 Read Jeremiah 16.

As we have seen before, God occasionally ordered the prophets to act out His message or use visuals for the purpose of gaining attention.  The punishment upon the nation was coming.  The LORD had Jeremiah withhold three natural and normal actions in support of what God was saying.

He was not to marry and have a family.  Why?  Because soon families would be killed by the invaders or die in the famine.  He was not to attend funerals.   Why?  Because soon there would be so many dead that no one would left to bury them.  He was not to attend parties.  Why?  Because soon there would be nothing to celebrate.

The people brought this on themselves.  They did not learn from the mistakes of their ancestors.  Instead, they rebelled against God's lordship of their lives even more.  "Every one of you follows his stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me." (v.12)

Losing their land was temporary.  Just as their fathers always looked back to the Exodus out of Egypt as a benchmark of God restoring the Jews to the land, there would be a new benchmark.  A future generation will return from this Babylonian Captivity (north country, v.15).  Even more, there will come a day when a world-wide return will take place.  At that time, under the rule of Messiah, the nation will be taught, see firsthand the power of God, and know exactly who God is (v.21).  That is their future hope.

In the meantime, Jeremiah remained faithful.  So, what was he to do as his nation faced such certain doom?  What can we do when our personal world appears to be crumbling around us?  Note the three things about the LORD in verse 19 that the prophet held on to and that sustained him "in the day of trouble."
1. "My strength."
Like a personal security force of bodyguards, the God of heaven would take care of him.  He would keep going, not in his own power but God's.
2. "My fortress."
Like having a personal fortified area of defense where the enemy could not break through, God would keep him safe.
3. "My refuge."
Like a personal retreat, God was his place to run when he felt threatened.

Don't miss that each one begins with "my."  This was not just sound theology or good religious teaching.  This was his personal faith and commitment to the LORD.  That is what makes the difference.

 

When it is time to stand Alone

 Read Jeremiah 15.

Though repeatedly warned over a long period of time, Judah refused to turn back to God.  Their sins had overtaken them, but at the root was "you have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward." (v.6)  Judgment was now sure.  It would come in different forms: pestilence, sword, famine, captivity.  Everyone in the nation would suffer one of those four punishments.

Even the relatively few who remained faithful to the LORD would experience extreme adversity.  Jeremiah stayed true in delivering messages given to him directly from God.  Yet, he too was rejected as one who caused conflict (v.10).  He did nothing wrong.  He did what was right and suffered for it.  Feeling alone in his stand against the wickedness of his nation, he prayed.  Then, God responded to him.

The testimony of one who stands alone. (vv.15-18)
Note the principles of his willingness be true to the LORD against all odds.
1. "For your sake I bear reproach"
The rejection and suffering he experienced was not due to anything he had done.  He faithfully fulfilled all that the LORD told him to do.  Truly, it was the result of their rejection of God.  It was God's message to God's people and their rejection was against God.  But, he felt it.
2. "Your words were found and I ate them."
He just did not read or speak about the word of God.  He took what the LORD said and internalized it.  God's word was the joy and delight of his life.  It sustained him in the midst of all the stress he faced.
3. "I did not sit in the company of revelers."
He had no time for those who mocked, laughed at, and dismissed what God had to say.  Jeremiah did not associate with such people.
4. "I sat alone."
Because Judah had become a nation of mockers against God, Jeremiah found himself isolated.  Like Elijah, he was not the only one in the country who remained faithful, but it felt like it.  It was a lonely time.  Loneliness will often be the price of standing true to the LORD.
5. "My pain is unceasing."
It hurt.  He felt as though he was dying from some incurable disease that had taken over his body.  As one who looked for water in a dry brook bed, so he looked to God to refresh his spirit.

The  promises of God. (vv.19-21)
1. "You shall stand before me."
Like He dealt tersely with Elijah for feeling sorry for himself, God exhorted Jeremiah to get back on track.  God had called him.  He would take care of him.  "Get up and take your stand."
2. "You shall be as my mouth."
The sign of a godly person is that they know God's word and speak God's truth.  His word has eternal value and has the power to change lives.
3. "You shall not turn to them."
Standing alone means to not giving in to the pressure to conform to a sinful culture.  If the people were to turn to God, he must remain unmovable in representing the LORD.  If he gave in, tolerated, or joined the people in their sin, all ministry would be forfeited.
4. You will be like a bronze wall.
It was not in Jeremiah to withstand this spiritual opposition.  God said, "I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze."  Humans are no match for spiritual warfare.  When one takes a stand for the LORD, His powerful resources will be seen.  The Apostle Paul wrote, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." (Ephesians 6:10)

Psalm 1:1-2-"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night."

 

4 signs you have a malpracticing Preacher

 Read Jeremiah 14.

The severe drought was taking its toll on Judah.  No rain meant no water.  No water meant a scarcity of food.  God had warned the nation in Leviticus 26:18-20, for example, that His blessings would be withheld if they chose to ignore His word.  The people prayed, but God did not answer.  They made a pretense of confessing their sin (v.7), but the LORD knew their hearts were still clinging to idols.  Going through the routines and rituals of worship without an exclusive allegiance to the LORD proved to be totally ineffective (v.12). 

Plenty of prophets were in the land.  Why were the people unprepared?  Where was the true repentance of sin and revival of sincere hearts?  What was the problem?  The answer is that many of the preachers were false prophets and many of the priests were false priests.  What characterized them as being false?  God identified 4 things about them in verse 14.

1. "I did not send them."
These men held a religious position but it had nothing to do with God.  They pretended to represent God but He had not called them to do such a thing.  More importantly, God had not spoken to them.  In those days, the prophet received direct messages from the LORD as to what He wanted preached.  Truly, then, they had nothing to say.  But they spoke regularly anyway. 

2. "They are prophesying...a lying vision."
In the Old Testament the vision of the prophet refers to the word of God.  These false prophets stood to speak but they had not heard or seen anything from the LORD.  Their content was made up.  What they said to the people was not true.  In fact, it contradicted what the LORD had already revealed and what genuine prophets, like Jeremiah, were saying.

3. "They are prophesying...worthless divination."
Because their messages were lies, their insights and so-called affirmations about God, spiritual life, and life in general had absolutely no real value for the people.  This false hope only fueled the judgment to come against them.

4. "They are prophesying...the deceit of their own minds."
The Hebrew word for "deceit" is fraud.  It was malpractice.  Those to whom they pretended to minister were harmed instead of helped.  It was their thinking versus what God said.  It was what the people wanted to hear versus the truth.  They missed the singular key ingredient for serving God and enjoying His blessings.  "For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge." (v.18b)

Let's hold each other accountable for knowing, speaking, and living the truth of God's word.  Anything less is a fraud.

God's attempts to get Attention

 Read Jeremiah 13.

Many times the LORD instructed one of the prophets to do something unusual.  These served as visual aids to gain attention and gather a curious crowd who would listen to the message.  In this chapter, Jeremiah has two such assignments.

1. The Linen Belt (vv.1-11)
The LORD told Jeremiah to wear a linen belt.  This would have been what the priests wore in that day.  After sometime, God told him to bury the belt.  Then later, He told Jeremiah to dig up the belt and take a good look.  The belt, of course, was dirty, falling apart, and no longer of any use.  It was an illustration for God's message to Judah.  He chose them and made them cling to Himself.  But the people had buried themselves in the surrounding pagan culture.  They refused to listen to the word of God and live for Him.  Spiritually, they were dirty, falling apart, and no longer could they be used by God.

2. The Wine Jars (vv.12-14)
The message began with the statement to fill every jar with wine.  Immediately, the people derisively questioned the instruction.  It was a picture of Judah's spiritual condition.  Their intoxication with false teaching and pagan practices caused them to reel here and there through life with a loss of direction and sense.  As a result, God's judgment would smash their wrong beliefs and the nation like broken jars.

The judgment will come with Judah being taken captive (v.17) and forced into exile (v.19) by an invader from the north (v.20).

Three times Jeremiah exposed the root problem as that of pride (vv.9, 15, 17).  He called for them to humble themselves and give God His rightful glory before it would be too late.  

God loves it when we humble ourselves in worship and cast our dependence upon Him.  It is the very thing that triggers His grace to us.  "Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
  

 

The preacher complains to God

 Read Jeremiah 12.

If you have ever complained to God, you are in good company.  So did Jeremiah.  His attitude was not one of rebellion but bewilderment.  He knew God was right and the prophet wanted to understand what God was doing.

In the previous chapter, the LORD warned Jeremiah of a plot against his life.  Part of Jeremiah's confusion had to do with the prosperity of those who opposed God's message and who desired to kill the messenger.  In addition to their apparent wealth, there was a huge lack of spiritual integrity with the opposition.  It seemed that God had blessed them, yet "you are near in their mouth and far from their heart." (v.2)  Why was God allowing this?

The response from God challenged the prophet.  In essence He asked in verse 5, "If you cannot take this pressure, what will you do when things get worse?"  And, they will.  Some of Jeremiah's enemies were among his own family (v.6).  God then announced in no uncertain terms that He would "abandon" Judah and allow other nations to destroy the land (vv.7-13).

Many have used such passages to declare that God is through with the Jews and spiritualize all subsequent references in the Bible to the contrary.  If one continues reading, however, the abandonment is not forever.  This immediate punishment will last for 70 years at the hands of the Babylonian Empire.  Ultimately, in the Millennial Kingdom, Israel and the nations will experience a complete restoration.

"I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land." (v.15)  The principle is this:  "But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the LORD."

We are living in between these two major events: the Babylonian captivity and the coming earthly reign of Christ.  But now every individual is being held accountable for listening to God and responding with genuine faith.  "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." (Hebrews 3:15)