Today’s passage: Jeremiah 21:1-14

Helpful thoughts:

• This Pashhur is different from the one in the last chapter.
• God’s answer to their request made it very clear.  God wasn’t just sitting this one out (Does God ever sit anything out?).  He was bringing Babylon and using them to defeat Judah.
• In God’s mercy, He still gives the people a way to obey Him and preserve their lives.  Though, as a consequence of their years of sin, their earthly options still ranged from bad to worse.

Questions to consider:

1. After reading all of Jeremiah thus far, what did you think after reading verse 2?  When did they decide to take God seriously?  How much attention had they paid to God before the crisis hit?  What can we learn from this? What must be the condition of our hearts if we think we can disregard God when everything appears to be going well, but then expect Him to show up in our defense when things get hard?
2. If you were the king and God told you the nation was going to end, why would it still be right to obey Him?  We might be prone to think, “If there’s no way I can reverse this, then forget it!” But, should our obedience only come when there is a promise of immediate earthly blessing?  Why is it always right to obey God?
3. These ideas and questions can cause us to search deep into our hearts, and by the grace of God, perhaps see things that are true about ourselves that we have not thought of before…How could this gift of self-awareness cause us to be all the more thankful for Jesus’ work on the cross for our sin?  How great is the love and grace and mercy and redemptive work of God?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 20:1-18

Helpful thoughts:

• Passhur’s name means something along the lines of, “deliverance is around”.  His new name, given by God in verse 3 means, “Terror on every side.”
  • He was not the High Priest, but a priest and the chief guard (Like police) of the Temple.  Either way, a high ranking official in God’s Temple just struck and arrested God’s prophet.  This should have been a shocking development.
• The contrast of God’s Word and the desires and responses of the people made ministry “hard” for Jeremiah.  But, God is mightier than the praise of man and the joy of serving Him is greater than the endless endeavor of trying to “fit in” to the culture around us.
• In this statement from Jeremiah, we get an honest look into the heart of an imperfect man, serving a perfect God.  When we rightly fulfill the ministry He gives to us, whatever that might be, our own hearts can fluctuate between joy, eager expectation, sorrow, fear, and everywhere in between as we consider the temporary and eternal ramifications of our obedience.

Questions to consider:

1. Given the reality of the mixture of responses we get when following Christ and sharing the truth of the Gospel with others, what must we continually base our joy upon?
2. If we only desire to see people accept us and accept Christ, what will happen to our evangelistic efforts?  If we are looking to Christ and desiring to please Him first, how will that impact us in a positive way, even in the midst of adversity?
3. How can verses like Hebrews 12:1-2 or Philippians 3:13-14, or even Revelation 21:1-5 bring us hope and courage to keep running this race with joy?  What are some passages that are particularly encouraging to you, to keep your eyes on Christ and the truth in the midst of this world?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 19:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• For a contrast…to help our own ears “tingle,” it would be helpful to read Deuteronomy 13:6-18.
• Topheth is the Hebrew word for drums.  When the Jews were worshiping false gods in the Valley of Hinnom, the beating of drums would cover the sounds of their crying as they sacrificed their own children.
• God was promising to make Jerusalem and the towns of Judah just like the Valley of Hinnom.

Questions to consider:

1. What was the reason why Judah and Jerusalem had brought this judgment on themselves?  What did they do?  What does it mean to have a “stiff neck” if having one results in not hearing God’s words?
2. In what ways might we still have “stiff necks” in regard to God’s commands?  It might be easy to compare our actions to child sacrifice and feel pretty good about ourselves, but what might God be calling us to do where our own “stiffness” is on display?
3. How does the “tingling” of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of our own hearts call us to worship?  What did Christ do on the cross for us?  In the reality of our sin, who does God reveal Himself to be through His initiation of our redemption?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 18:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• Clay does not form itself.  God is the Potter, we are clay.
• When offered repentance and repair in the Potter’s hands, the people chose to follow the plans of their own stubborn and evil hearts.
  • They saw submission to God as a hopeless endeavor.  They refused to entrust themselves to someone else, even God.
• The people chose to persecute Jeremiah, not because they thought he was misrepresenting God, but because they no longer desired to hear from God.
  • Jeremiah’s prayer is certainly sad, something we would not be praying for our neighbors in hardly any circumstance.  However, due to God’s previous declaration, Jeremiah’s prayer was not outside of God’s revealed will.

Questions to consider:

1. The people of Judah felt better and more secure when they believed they were in control of their own lives.  Why is this a terrible and tragic view of life?  Why are we so far less reliable than God in overseeing our own lives?  Can a human being ever truly be in control?
2. When Judah called God’s plan hopeless, what were they calling God?  What would the condition of their hearts have to be to call themselves stubborn and evil and still choose to reject God and attack His prophet?
3. How should the heart of a Christian progressively look in contrast to what we saw in this passage today? How would that change of heart affect our daily lives and interactions with God and other people?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 17:1-27

Helpful thoughts:

• This sins of Judah were written in a permanent fashion.  Man cannot erase his own sin.  God, in His grace, writes His words on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
• Verses 5-8 are much like Psalm 1:1-3.
  • Verse 9 gives reason for the truth of verses 5-8.
  • The “heart” is the inner man.  Our minds, desires, emotions are all part of what the Bible calls, the heart.
• Verses 19-27 are a continuation of Jeremiah’s special ministry, preaching to a people who will refuse to listen and bring judgment on themselves.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way was the contrast of verses 5-8 expressed in ancient Israel and Judah, even when they worshiped false gods?  In what ways do we see these verses on display today?  How does man trust in man in our day and culture?  Has that trust crept into the thinking of the church in any way?
2. How does verse 9 inform the common encouragement to “Follow your heart?”  What must happen in our hearts before we would be led in the right direction?  To whom must our hearts be submitted?  How must our thinking be transformed? Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:21-24)
3. How can verse 14 help us with assurance of our salvation?  Upon whose abilities do we base our salvation?  If God saves you, then what are you and what will you become? (Philippians 1:6)

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 16:1-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Verses 10-11 may have elicited a response of, “That’s not fair!”…and then verse 12 comes.
• God is not commanding them to serve other gods in Babylon.  They were already doing that in Judah.  He knows what they will do when they get to Babylon.
• Once God judged Judah, exiled them to Babylon and then brought back the remnant, there would be Jews and Gentiles alike who saw the mighty hand of God and repented.

Questions to consider:

1. Why did it seem God did not want Jeremiah to have a wife and children?  In what way was it a merciful command to him?
2. How does eternity and the person of God (Who He is) help us to view grief in a right perspective?  When we mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice, what is our motivation and our goal in doing so?
3. What do verses 19-20 teach us about false religion?  Why is knowing God “profitable?”  What is the profit?  What is the good?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 15:1-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapter 14 ended with the people pleading for God’s forgiveness, though they were not truly repentant.  They didn’t really want to change, they simply wanted God to withhold any consequences.  Worldly sorrow.
• God was not going to relent from judgment any longer.  Verse 2 indicates that what was coming was absolutely just and in truth, what Judah had been moving toward themselves through their actions.
  • When we do things that bring about hardship (Natural consequences), we should expect those hardships to come and not be angry with others when they do.
• Jeremiah struggles in his role as a prophet to a people who do not want to listen.  In that role, he pities himself.  God called him to repent.

Questions to consider:

1. How do we generally tend to view hardships?  Are hard things simply hard or are they evil?  How might we respond differently to hardships that we bring on ourselves as opposed to hardships that others bring upon us?
2. What pain do you think Jeremiah wanted out of his life?  When he called God a deceitful brook, what was he implying God was supposed to do for him?
3. How did God’s answer re-orient Jeremiah’s view?  Are we to find rest in the ways that we think God should make our hardships go away or is God the rest we need in the midst of the hardships in this life?  Does He build us a fortress with things in this world or is He our fortress?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 14:1-22

Helpful thoughts:

• Verses 1-6 give a description of drought in Judah.  7-9 is the prayer to request rain. 10-18 explains God’s response.  And then 19-22 is an appeal from the people.
• The people of Judah were being taught by prophets who were not accurately conveying the Word of God.  They were false prophets.
  • One of the results of unbiblical teaching is a people who continue in sin while participating in religious activity, and expect God’s continued blessing.
• In their desperation, the people of Judah acknowledge that God is truly the only one who can bring rain and heal their land.
  • God will respond toward this apparent repentance in the next chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. How can a group of people know they are being taught false doctrine?  With the access we have today to God’s written word, how many people in the church should be well aware of it’s contents?
2. Are there any examples in our culture today of people who consider themselves religious, Christian, but who are not following Christ and still expecting “blessing?”
3. What seems really good about these words of repentance in verses 19-22?  What aspect of this request might you be leery of?  What would continued fruits of repentance look like?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 13:1-27

Helpful thoughts:

• God does not become great when we decide to cling to Him.  He is great, and He shares his greatness with us when He causes us to cling to Him.
  • The picture of the linen loincloth points to the grace of God.
• Verse 23 reminds us that sinners cannot make themselves righteous by nature.  We need forgiveness and rescue.
  • Part of the sadness of this chapter is the reality that God had offered Himself to the people of Judah and they continually rejected Him.

Questions to consider:

1. How do the illustrations of this chapter point us to the truths of the gospel?
2. How does God prove Himself to be great, holy, good, loving, gracious to us?
3. Why are we able to grow in wanting to do what is right, even for the right reason?  How does this leopard lose his spots?  What does God do (2 Corinthians 5:17)?  And therefore, who deserves all the glory and praise?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 12:1-17

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter gives us an appeal and question, and then the Lord’s answer.
  • Jeremiah’s question is similar to that of Psalm 73.  Why are the wicked able to prosper in this life?  Why doesn’t God seem to judge them?
  • God reminds him, his own people, even his own family, have become wicked.  Judah was not an innocent nation being judged.
• God does tell Jeremiah that the surrounding nations would see their day of judgment.  And, that there would be a remnant that would return.  God’s people would dwell in the land.

Questions to consider:

1. What often becomes the means by which we measure God’s blessing?  Why are there times we might think that God is blessing the lost more than the saved?
2. If the blessing of God was entirely tied up in our earthly resources, what would be the end and goal of our salvation?  Whose “glory” would be most important?
3. What was the nature of Jeremiah’s appeal in verse 1?  What did he know about God?  What can we learn from the fact that God heard and responded as He did?  Does God care about relationship with you?