Category Archives: Jeremiah

¹“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people. ² This is what the Lord says:

“Those who survive the coming destruction
    will find blessings even in the barren land,
    for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”

³ Long ago the Lord said to Israel:
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
    With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
⁴ I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel.
    You will again be happy
    and dance merrily with your tambourines.
⁵ Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria
    and eat from your own gardens there.
⁶ The day will come when watchmen will shout
    from the hill country of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem
    to worship the Lord our God.’”

⁷ Now this is what the Lord says:
“Sing with joy for Israel,
    Shout for the greatest of nations!
Shout out with praise and joy:
‘Save your people, O Lord,
    the remnant of Israel!’

Jeremiah 31:1-7

Dear God, I first read this passage from the daily Catholic readings, and they changed a key word in verse 2. They personalized it to the original Israel/Jacob. They made it sound like you were talking through Jeremiah directly to Jacob. Every other translation I looked at, including the New Catholic Edition, New Revised Standard Catholic Edition, New American Standard 1995, New International Version and New Living Translation (shown above), has you addressing the people of Israel.

But I want to go back and consider, for just a moment, that the Catholic reading today was also right. That you were addressing the son of Isaac from thousands of years before. Before the exile. Before the split between Judah and Benjamin and the rest of Israel. Before the bad kings. Before Solomon, David and Saul. Before Samson and Gideon. Before Joshua and Moses. Before slavery in Egypt. I’m thinking about the man who stole his brother’s birthright and blessing as the first born. The guy who worked for Laban to get Rachel (while acquiring Leah at the same time). The guy who thought his son Joseph had been killed, only to find he was alive and very well in Egypt. The guy who repented to his twin brother Esau in order to save his own life at the hands of Esau. Let’s say for a moment that the words in these verses are meant for him specifically as he lives with you in the afterworld.

The conclusion I came to is that, having watched history play out over the next few thousand years, I’m sure he was overwhelmed by how little the things he obsessed over day to day mattered while some of the more inconsequential things he considered while he was alive ended up reverberating through history–not the least of which was agreeing for his family to go to Egypt for food during the famine.

Father, Holy Spirit, all of this makes me think about how simultaneously small my life really is while also realizing that the smallest decisions might just ripple through time. It’s the butterfly effect, but submitted to you. So I guess the best thing to pray today is that you will grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things [you want me to change] and the [discernment] to know the difference. And help me to continue to just let go of the things that I think define me when what defines me is only you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

One day in late summer of that same year—the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah—Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said, ² “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will remove the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks. ³ Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon. ⁴ And I will bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put on your necks. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”

⁵ Jeremiah responded to Hananiah as they stood in front of all the priests and people at the Temple. ⁶ He said, “Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the Lord does everything you say. I hope he does bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple and all the captives. ⁷ But listen now to the solemn words I speak to you in the presence of all these people. ⁸ The ancient prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations, always warning of war, disaster, and disease. ⁹ So a prophet who predicts peace must show he is right. Only when his predictions come true can we know that he is really from the Lord.”

¹⁰ Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it in pieces. ¹¹ And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Just as this yoke has been broken, within two years I will break the yoke of oppression from all the nations now subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.’” With that, Jeremiah left the Temple area.

¹² Soon after this confrontation with Hananiah, the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: ¹³ “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but you have replaced it with a yoke of iron. ¹⁴ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.’”

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, but the people believe your lies. ¹⁶ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You must die. Your life will end this very year because you have rebelled against the Lord.’”

¹⁷ Two months later the prophet Hananiah died.

Jeremiah 28

Dear God, what a story. If I’ve read it before, I’ve forgotten it. I have to admit, I was sucked into the narrative and Hananiah’s false prophecy. In the first verse, Jeremiah labels Hananiah a prophet so I just gave him the benefit of the doubt. But Hananiah was either unintentionally or intentionally wrong. Jeremiah told him to wait on his prophecy to see if it was true, but Hananiah decided to double down in an evocative way. That was his mistake. It sounds like you would have had room for him to be humble and be wrong, but you would not tolerate arrogant ignorance.

“Arrogant ignorance.” Those words just came to me, but they resonate. There is a lot of arrogant ignorance going around. I was curious yesterday about a nationally-known pastor who had used his credibility to support some political candidates over the last several years. He had been kind of quiet recently so I wanted to see if he was still as politically-minded. I went to his Twitter page and found that he had returned to just loving people. He was using his ministry to reach out to people in Kentucky with the flooding. He was loving wounded veterans in Alaska. His feed was back to being about bringing you into the world and loving you. I am curious to know whether he regrets his political activism. Did he repent of it? I wonder.

In a Christianity Today interview in 2011, when asked of his regrets, Billy Graham included this: “I also would have steered clear of politics. I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.” Power can be intoxicating. But Jesus never cared about power except when he saw those who were supposed to represent you (priests, Pharisees, etc.) being cruel, legalistic, and selfish. He didn’t care about Caesar, but he cared about Caiaphas.

Father, Holy Spirit, help me to turn loose of vestiges of power that I might have or covet and simply bring you into the world today through my life. Love others through me. Let it start with my wife. Then my children and their significant others. My parents. My siblings. My nieces and nephews. The strangers I meet. Let your love flow through me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.
Jeremiah 17:5-6

Dear God, I do this. I do it all of the time. I put my trust in the economy. I put my trust my own ability. But if you are the vine and I am the branch then I will surely shrivel up and die apart from you.

I’m about to go into a finance committee in the next two hours. Things are good with our nonprofits finances. Will I pat myself on the back or worship you? Will I take credit before my board members or will I point them to you? The truth is, when I go back to the foundation of where each donation or other piece of revenue came from, I can point back to you and see how your hand influences every good thing.

Father, I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you. Thank you. Guide me. Encourage me. Enter the world through my life. And please heal the situations that are causing me pain and concern.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:10-11

Dear God, it’s that 70 years that is the key. What happens during that 70 years? My first thought was that the people will be refined through the struggle and they will know how to love you better. But that doesn’t take 70 years. In fact, 70 years will likely see their deaths at some point.

No, 70 years will see their children, their children’s children, and even third and fourth generations born and raised up during the struggle. I think what the 70 years will do is create an entirely new society of people from top to bottom who will have known nothing but struggle and, if this first generation does it right, worshiping you through the struggle.

Father, I don’t know which generation I’m in, but it feels like I’m at the beginning of the decline. So help me to, first, be pure before you, worship you, and submit to you and, second, to teach others to do the same. Guide us as a society. Guide us as a world. I’m not saying we haven’t peaked and our stature as a nation in the world might never come back, but you never promised that to us. As much as we might like to think we are, this country is not your chosen people. But I am your chosen child. So help your children to be ambassadors to the world for your glory’s sake. That starts with me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen