Devotionals: Jeremiah Archives

A Speaking God

By Andrew YoungSeptember 27, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“The words of Jeremiah… to whom the word of the Lord came…” (Jeremiah 1:1, 2) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 1:1-3 Earlier this week, in the course of giving a lecture, a visiting theological teacher read from the tenth chapter of the book of Jeremiah. My love for this book was instantly revived, and I resolved, somehow or other, to return to its careful study. Having finished the seventeenth chapter of John, and with that, concluded the “Upper Room Discourse,” it might be timely to take a break from the Gospels and look at something different in our daily devotionals – something […]

Known Before Birth

By Andrew YoungSeptember 28, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…” (Jeremiah 1:5) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10 The first of God’s words to Jeremiah relate to his call to be a prophet (Jeremiah 1:4-10). A careful look at them reveals a number of important ideas. The first is that God foreknew Jeremiah even before he was conceived. “Before I formed you in the womb,” he says, “I knew you” (v. 5). David tell us in Psalm 139 that the Lord actively formed him and “knitted him together” in his mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). But here he says to Jeremiah that even […]

A Call to Work

By Andrew YoungSeptember 29, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“But you, dress yourself for work…” (Jeremiah 1:17) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 1:11-19 After hearing of his appointment to be a “prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5), Jeremiah is next shown two visions – one of “an almond branch” and the other of a “boiling pot, facing away from the north” (vs. 11, 14). Both have significance for his role as a prophet. The almond branch points to the nearness of God fulfilling his word, and the boiling pot to judgments that are to come upon Jerusalem and the cities of Judah from the north. It is a solemn picture, and […]

A Complaint Against Israel

By Andrew YoungSeptember 30, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“What wrong did your fathers find in me…” (Jeremiah 2:5) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 2:1-8 The next oracles (prophetic messages) recorded in Jeremiah contain a complaint against Israel. The nation has “gone far from” God (Jeremiah 2:5). They had made a promising start in their relationship with him, showing devotion in their early days as his people as they followed him “in the wilderness, in a land not sown” (v. 2). Their early loyalty could be likened to the love of a bride for her husband, and God, on his part, treated them as holy, as his special, protected possession (v. […]

A Foolish Exchange

By Andrew YoungOctober 1, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“For my people have… forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out for themselves… broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 2:9-13 Jeremiah here continues to express the indignation that the Lord feels at having been forsaken by his people. So criminal is their action that God presents his case to the heavens: “Be appalled, O heavens at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate” (Jeremiah 2:12). What makes their abandoning him so shocking is that it is without parallel among the nations. Were they to travel westwards to Cyprus, or eastwards to […]

Bringing it On Ourselves

By Andrew YoungOctober 2, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“Have you not brought this upon yourself…?” (Jeremiah 2:17) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 2:14-19 One of the challenges of writing devotionals on a book like Jeremiah is the long passages full of warnings and accusations. What does one do with them when their message is consistently so threatening and full of warning? One way of handling them is to choose just a few verses here and there to dwell upon. However, in doing that, there is a danger of giving a wrong emphasis to the message of the prophet. It seems best to me to keep taking the text as it […]

The Peril of Denial

By Andrew YoungOctober 3, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“How can you say, ‘I am not unclean…?’” (Jeremiah 2:23) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 2:20-25 The Lord’s complaint against his people continues. He has much to accuse them of in their waywardness. One thing that makes their forsaking him so hurtful is that he had been so good to them. “Long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds,” he says to them, referring to their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, “but you said, ‘I will not serve’” (Jeremiah 2:20). Again, “I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become […]

Shame in the Day of Trouble

By Andrew YoungOctober 4, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed…” (Jeremiah 2:26) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 2:26-28 We are noticing in the charges God brings against his people how complex unfaithfulness can be. We often dismiss such things as disobedience and faithlessness lightly. While it is never pleasant to gaze into the depths of sin, it is nevertheless necessary to do so if we are to avoid a shallow approach to life and understand how God deals with his people. Here, God announces the shame that will be in store for his people because of their […]

The Pain of Being Forgotten

By Andrew YoungOctober 5, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” (Jeremiah 2:32) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 2:29-32 In their blindness to their sins, the people of Israel were “contending” with God (Jeremiah 2:29). That is to say, they were saying hard things about him, blaming him as though their troubles were all his fault. Yet, the Lord says, the fault in their broken relationship lies with them, not him. “You have all transgressed against me,” he says through his prophet Jeremiah (v. 29). What is more, he adds, “In vain I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured […]

Stronger Measures Announced

By Andrew YoungOctober 6, 2018Devotionals: Jeremiah

“Behold, I will bring you to judgment….” (Jeremiah 2:35) Bible Reading: Jeremiah 2:33-37 As solemn – some would say, negative – as these chapters in Jeremiah are, I must say that I am finding them absorbing. I didn’t expect to do so, but I am. The more deeply we reflect on God’s complaint against his people, the more we are able to see his heart and the manner of his dealings with us. I hope that encourages you to persevere! The section before us begins with a rather shocking reference to Israel’s unfaithfulness. “How well you direct your course to […]