Jeremiah 20  There is so much anguish in this chapter.. Jeremiah is beaten and put into stocks.. he is denounced, rejected, abused, and ridiculed... He doesn't even want to speak anymore.. but finds that he can't keep it in.. 

"Yet, O Lord of hosts, Thou who dost test the righteous, Who sees the mind and the heart; Let me see Thy vengeance on them; for to Thee I have set forth my cause. Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord! For He has delivered the soul of the needy one from the hand of the evildoers." (V12-13)

Even in the darkest time of his life.. even when he felt that it would have been better had he never been born.. Jeremiah was God's man who proclaimed God's Words.. and he praised God through it all. 

The country was about to be taken. The temple would be destroyed along with the city.  The people would go into exile. And, Jeremiah would be unable to control what was happening in his own life.. yet.. he was in the center of God's will.. fulfilling His purpose.. praising Him in the midst of it all. 

This is what it means to lay down your life and take up your cross and follow Jesus.  It is not easy. It is not comfortable. It is not all joy and happiness.  It is often a struggle.. a discouragement.. a trial.. a sorrow.  May we, like Jeremiah.. learn to sing to the Lord through those times.. to the praise and glory of our great God!

Father, You see our hearts and minds.  Lead us in Your ways and give us Your strength to keep on singing!

amen.

 Jeremiah 19  Taking a clay pot, Jeremiah took some of the elders, the people, and the priests, and led them out to the valley of Benhinnom.  The message was clear.. Jeremiah broke the the jar to illustrate just how God was going to break the "this people and this city.. which cannot be repaired.. " 

The sins of Judah were great.. "Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor their kings of Judah have ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire of burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind." (v4-5)

We may not have idols like Baal.. with fire devouring our innocent children.. but America has definitely chosen to offer the "blood of the innocent" for the idols of convenience.. the "right to choose".. or whatever else they want to call it.  We see it on the news every day!  Children.. if they even make it to birth.. bought and sold.. abused and neglected.. surely God feels the same about our sin as He did about Judah's.. 

 Jeremiah's message.. the broken jar.. could just as easily apply to a broken country in our day.. not just America, but Israel.. Russia.. Korea.. China.. and every other nation in our world.  What nation has not forsaken the Lord?  What nation has chosen life and godliness?  What nation has chosen repentance instead of stubborn disobedience?

Father in heaven, let Your Kingdom come! Let the Word be spoken and heard in our world.. that we would  have broken and contrite hearts.. to return to You before it is too late.  Thank You for patiently waiting.. for You do not want any to perish.. Be glorified, Holy Father, and let Your Truth fill our land today. In Jesus' name we ask this. Amen. 

 Jeremiah 18  The Lord sends Jeremiah to the potter's house... where he watches the potter take a spoiled vessel and remake it "as it pleased the potter to make."  

The Lord's purpose for this field trip is to reveal a certain truth about Him.. He is The Potter.. and we are the clay.  He determines our outcome.  He decides what happens..  And.. He can and does change His mind!

"At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring to it." ( v7-8)

There is one hope for our nation.. we must turn from our evil.. the evil of corruption and deception... the evils of immorality and murder of innocents.. the evil of  acting "according to the stubbornness of [our]  evil hearts".  The Lord says to us.. "Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and deeds." (v11)!

May we no longer act as the people of Judah.. forgetting God.. stumbling from His ways.. making our land a desolation.. one that will face great calamity. The Lord knows.. He sees.. and He will repay the evil that is overtaking our towns and cities.  Perhaps we are beginning to feel like Jeremiah did.. that his best efforts on behalf of his nation had failed.. that they were now ready to throw him into a pit.. that we can no longer pray for repentance.. but instead pray for God to "blot out their sin from" His sight. 

I have to admit.. when I see on the news the horrible acts of evil against little children.. I wonder why God doesn't strike those people down.. yet, I am reminded.. gently.. that God sees what we don't, and He will do justice.. in His way and in His time. Until then.. we keep on praying!  He is the Potter.. and I am His to do as He will in me... 

Father.. God of glory and grace, bring repentance .. return the hearts of our country back to the God who created all things.. Who rules all things.. and Who is worthy of all praise and honor and glory.  Thank You for patiently waiting .. that all will not perish, but come to Jesus Christ , our Lord and King.  Help us to stand firm.. be strong and courageous in a world that does not want to hear our message.. May we speak it anyway! Amen. 

 Jeremiah 17 ( again).. Before I leave this chapter I have been drawn back to verse 7 "Blessed is the man who trusts (båtach) who trusts in the Lord and whose trust (mibtach) is the Lord."  

The first "trust" is a verb.. an action.. to "hie for refuge"; to take a bold and confident hope in the Lord.  The second "trust" is a noun.. a place.. a refuge; a place of assurance and security.   This  is the difference between a man who has looked for refuge or assurance from other men... or from himself.. and a person who runs to the Father "again and again and again"( as the chorus goes..)  When we make a decision to trust the Lord.. to turn to Him and put all our hope in Him.. we find that He IS a place where we can find hope and security.. He is our Trust.  He is our shelter; our refuge; our Rock.  He is faithful and will not fail!  Praise the Lord!

The last part of chapter 17, starting at verse 19 is the Lord offering Judah a chance to at least do one thing to show respect for His commands.. " Take heed for yourselves and do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.. "  If Judah would only listen and obey this ONE commandment.. to honor God by keeping the Sabbath.. God would restore them.. "then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David.. "  The city would once again be filled with the offerings and sacrifices and thanksgiving from the people across the land. 

"But if you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy.. then I shall kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched."  Sadly, Judah could not even obey this one command. 

Was it commerce?  The buying and selling of goods that could not be stopped for even one day of the week?   If God told us to give up work.. give up going to the store.. give up...whatever; just one day a week.. would we obey?  We are no longer under the Law.. but what is our responsibility when it comes to the Sabbath?  How does God see us.. our constant busyness.. working, playing, shopping..etc.  Day after day after day?   Can we not take one day... to set aside all else to honor Him?

Father in heaven, let Your Name be hallowed and honored and exalted!  Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Father, lead us deeper into Your will and word that we might know Your voice and obey all that You command.  We are listening attentively and desire with all our hearts to serve You and love You and obey You.  Teach us Your ways.. we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 

 Jeremiah 17  "The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; with a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart."   How hard must a heart be to be engraved by iron and diamond?   How hard is my heart?  Do I have sin engraved there.. or has He engraved His Word on my heart?  Later Jeremiah learns of a new covenant that God will make with His people.. "I will put My laws within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." ( 31:33) From a heart harder than stone.. to a living heart filled with the Words of God!  Hallelujah we have a God who restores.. redeems.. and completely renovates the core of our being!

The Lord reminds His people.. as He often does, of the choice that we each must make.. there is a way that is cursed.. "Thus says the Lord, ' Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert.. but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness.. ' "(v5)  

There is also.. Praise God.. a way that is blessed! "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit." 

A hard heart or a living one?  A cursed, dried out, dying bush.. or a living, fruitful, blessed tree?  Why oh why do so many choose the wrong way? "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" 

Only the Lord.. "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds." 

Jeremiah responds.. as he often does.. with prayer.. "O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee will be put to shame... because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.  Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For Thou art my praise."  Oh what a precious prayer.  I have prayed it often and I pray it now...

Father I come to You.. the fountain of living water.. the Mighty God.. the King of Glory.. and the One who loves me with an everlasting love; Who will never leave me or forsake me.. Who hears my sincere prayers.. coming from a heart that is yielded to You.  Remove every stony place in me, Father. Take out every thorn that tries to choke out Your Truth. Pour out Your life-giving grace upon me once again.  May I do all that You write on my heart as Your Spirit produces the fruit of righteousness in my life.  Let Jesus Christ reign in every part of my life this day and for all my days. Raise up Your church to be all that You have called us to be.. alive.. fruitful.. blessed.. as we trust You and You are our trust! In the name of Jesus Christ we come before You and ask these things.. . amen. 

 Jeremiah 16  The Lord tells Jeremiah to not get married and not to have children.  The future is going to be so horrific that he would not want a wife or children to face it.  Sons and daughters.. mothers and fathers.. "will die of deadly diseases, they will not be lamented or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth." 

Jeremiah is not even supposed to lament or mourn or console the people of Judah.. ".. for I have withdrawn My peace from this people, declares the Lord, My lovingkindness and compassion."  There will be no words of comfort.. no consolation.. "Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride." (v9)

"Now it will come about when you tell this people all these words that they will say to you, 'For what reason has the Lord declared all this great calamity against us?'"  They couldn't believe that God would actually do what He said He would do!  Don't we hear the same thing today?  

But, God says it clearly.. " because your forefathers have forsaken Me.. and followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them, but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me." 

And there it is.. the same sinfulness that fills the hearts of people everywhere.. stubbornly walking according to their hearts.. filled with evil.. forsaking God and His Holy Word. How can we ignore this.. that the same destiny will come upon our own country that has greatly forsaken God too?

Judah would be devastated.. many would die..and all that were left would be sent into exile. 

But.. it is not the end.. for a day would come when God would "restore" them.  "Behold I am going to send for many fishermen, declares the Lord, and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them from every mountain and hill, and from the clefts of the rock."

Then the Lord makes this promise.. "Therefore behold, I am going to make them know - This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they will know that My name is the Lord."

Father.. You are our strength and our stronghold and we take refuge in You .  We know that the punishment sent upon Judah for their sinfulness is going to come upon the whole earth one day.. perhaps soon. Like Judah, our nation.. and many nations.. have forsaken You.  They walk in their own ways and refuse to listen to You. We know that many people refuse to believe.. or if they say they believe.. they don't know You in Truth.  So, we pray that You would send fishermen.. to bring people to Jesus! Hunt for them and bring them to the Truth. Let Your glory.. Your might and power be seen that people will know that Your Name is the Lord.  We ask this in the Mighty name of Jesus. Amen. 

 Jeremiah 15  It is hard to read of God's judgement on Judah.. He is sending His beloved people away.. "Those destined for death, to death; and those destined for the sword, to the sword; and those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity to captivity ."  He appointed "doom" for them because of the sin that they would not turn away from.  "You who have forsaken Me.. You keep going backward. So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting!" (v6)

The people "did not repent of their ways.. " therefore..  " a fire has been kindled in My anger, it will burn upon you.. " He told them.  

The book of Revelation reminds us that there is another fire.. a "lake that burns with fire and brimstone".. which is for the "cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars.. " (21:8)  Our God is a "consuming fire".. and His wrath will be poured out once again as it was on Judah.  

It is a stark reality that what happened back in that day.. to Judah.. paints a clear picture of what will happen to all the earth one day..  We know that there are many who refuse to hear the call to repentance.. "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  John the Baptist preached.  It was the message that Jesus came to proclaim and to give His life for...  He drank the cup of God's wrath.. that we might be saved from the fire of His anger.. that we might repent and be forgiven and kept from the destiny of doom that we all deserve..

Jeremiah once again turns to prayer.. "Thou who knows, O Lord, Remember me, take notice of me.. "  And God answers with such grace.. "If you return, then I will restore you - Before Me you will stand.. " God promises to save.. to deliver.. and to redeem the one who returns to Him. 

Father in heaven, again we are reminded that sin produces death and pain.. that Your anger burns against those who refuse to repent.. refuse to believe.. and refuse to return to You.  Father, let the message of the gospel be proclaimed across our land.. that more people will hear and understand that the only way to life is through repenting and returning to You.  May the reality of certain judgement.. a destiny of death, captivity, war, and destruction belongs to those who refuse to bow before You.  May we not fail to warn and speak up about these truths in our effort to be politically correct.. for we will be as guilty as the priests and leaders in Judah who proclaimed peace when there was no peace coming.  Send out the message again.. "Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is near!"  Let Jesus Christ be made known among the peoples of the earth we pray. Amen. 

 Jeremiah 14  A terrible drought came upon Judah.. " .. They have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with empty vessels... the ground is cracked.. The farmers have been put to shame.. even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young because there is no grass... there is no vegetation." ( v3-6)   The devastation is in the city and the countryside.. 

The people cry out to the Lord.. "Although our iniquities testify against us, O Lord, act for Thy name's sake! Truly our apostasies have been many, we have sinned against Thee. Thou Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress.. "  All the right words.. but.. too little.. too late. 

"Thus says the Lord to this people, 'Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account." (v10)   The Lord would no longer listen to their cries or accept their offerings.. "Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine, and pestilence."(v12) 

In Deuteronomy 28 the Lord had laid out the consequences for disobedience.. the sword.. famine.. and pestilence are all described in great detail.. it is a chilling reality that was being played out upon Judah in Jeremiah's day. Then read Revelation 6:8,  "... And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence.. " It is a future reality for planet earth.

Pestilence-  a word we don't use much.. but are well acquainted with its definition, "any virulent or fatal infectious disease.. especially one of epidemic proportions.. " ( New World Dictionary)  The Holman Bible Dictionary calls it a "devastating epidemic...  God sent pestilence as punishment for persistent unbelief... " It goes on to say this.. " Earnest prayer averted pestilence ( see I Kings 8:37) fasting and sacrifices without repentance did not (Jer. 14:12)." 

Revelation 9:20-21 speaks about this also.. "and the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts." 

There came a time for Judah.. when it was too late for prayer.. Jeremiah was told NOT to pray. ."Then the Lord said to me, 'Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go!' " ( 15:1)

This is what is coming.. to America.. to Earth.. sword, famine, pestilence.. judgement against sin.. for rejecting God.. for disobedience to His Word... We are seeing the "birth pangs" that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs." (v7-8) He tells us to "be ready". 

There will come a time when it is too late.. too late to call on God  Too late to repent. Too late to be saved. Too late.. to pray.

O Father in heaven, You are faithful to warn and discipline your people.. but so many refuse to confess their sins.. refuse to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior... and hold on to their lies and deceptions and sin.  We see in Your Word that there will be a time when we won't even be able to pray for them any more.  But, for now.. You have not shut that door!  So we beseech You to  bring revival.. to bring repentance upon this nation and upon our world.  Send forth workers.. more workers into the harvest fields.. Change hearts and lives by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed throughout the earth. Open our eyes to see You and our ears to hear Your Voice.. to turn from false teachings and the lies of our culture.. and to know the Truth that alone can set men free.. the Truth of Jesus Christ!  We pray this now, in the power of His Mighty Name. amen. 

 Jeremiah 13  The Lord tells Jeremiah to go buy a new linen waistband... then He tells him to take it down by the Euphrates and hide it in a crevice.  Later, the Lord tells him to go get it.. and it is completely ruined.  This was to illustrate clearly how the Lord saw Judah.. 

"For as a waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me, declares the Lord, that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen." 

The waistband was ruined and destroyed.. "Thus says the Lord, 'Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.'"  They refused to bow before the Lord.. to listen to His words.  They "walked in the stubbornness of their hearts.. " So, now they were like the ruined waistband.. "worthless."

Pride.  It makes men think that they can do whatever they want and that God doesn't see. It makes them think that they do not have to be sorry for their sin.. for the pain they cause others.. or for thinking only of themselves above all else.  "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopards his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil."  Because they had forgotten God and trusted in lies.. so wicked they couldn't stop doing evil.. so far from God's desire for them.. they would be "wholly carried into exile."

God would not show compassion or pity to this people any longer.  Jeremiah could only "sob in secret for such pride."  How could a people meant for such glory.. become a people destined for destruction? 

They forgot God.  They exalted themselves. 

Our own country is heading in the same direction as Judah.  "Give glory to the Lord your God, before He brings darkness." (v16)  May God help us turn around!

Father in heaven,  You alone are God and we are yearning for the moving of Your Holy Spirit .. to bring revival to our churches and our land. May Your Name once again be exalted and revered and cherished in our country. Forgive us, Lord.. for wickedness that is becoming more and more ingrained in the culture of our world.  Free us from the evil one's intentions. Deliver us and revive us. Let those who call on the Name of Jesus lift up our voices and proclaim the good news of salvation while we can. We cling to You, Lord God.. as the waistband clings to the waist of a man. Open our ears to listen.. and to never forget You. We come with humble hearts.. in Jesus' name . Amen. 

 Jeremiah 12  

Jeremiah prays, "Righteous art Thou, O Lord, that I would plead my case with Thee; indeed I would discuss matters of justice with Thee; Why has the way of the wicked prospered?"

We can relate to this prayer.  It does seem, sometimes, that wicked people get away with wickedness. David often wrote about  that in his psalms.  But, he always remembered.. by God's Word.. that justice would come.. judgement would come.. and wickedness would be punished.  Jeremiah was so fed up with the people of Judah.  He preached and preached and preached.. and nobody would listen. Instead they just kept on living their sin-filled lives and paying no attention to the impending disasters to come. 

We see it just as much today.  People in our world are just as wicked and just as stubborn as those in  Judah were.  They also refuse to listen and we wonder how long before it will go on... 

We see this too.. "Thou art near to their lips but far from their mind."  How often we hear leaders say their thoughts and prayers are offered for those going through disasters.. but, we know it is mere lip service.  If prayers are offered.. who are they offered to?

"But Thou knowest me, O Lord; Thou seest me; and Thou dost examine my heart attitude toward Thee." Jeremiah's prayer is offered to the One True God..who knows him and sees him. Isn't that wonderful.. that we can come to this Great God with the same understanding!  He sees us. He sees the wicked. He knows every heart and every mind. We can plead our cases with Him and know that He will act with justice. 

God answered Jeremiah's prayer.. assuring him that He would do as He had said.. judgement was coming.. even though Judah was "the beloved of His soul".. she would be stricken and uprooted.  They had "ruined" His "vineyard". They had destroyed His "pleasant fields".. All the beauty and fruitfulness of the Promised Land had been trampled and made desolate because of their greed and sinfulness.  The land itself was mourning.. sin affects more than just people.. the land, the birds, the animals.. "There is no peace for anyone." 

Yet.. God will not forsake His covenant with Israel altogether.. "And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will  bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land."  He has given them yet another chance..  "if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, 'As the Lord lives'.. they will be built up.. but if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it.. " 

Father, we pray that we.. as a nation.. will learn to listen to Your voice.  We pray that Israel will once again turn to You and become all that You desire her to be.  Thank You, Lord, that you know each of us and see us.. that You see our hearts and that You are faithful and just.. to forgive our sin and to make us righteous when we turn to You through Jesus Christ our Lord. Move in our land, Holy Spirit, and bring revival once again we pray.. that the lesson of Judah and Israel will open our eyes to know that You are coming and all the world will face Your judgement. Heal our land and heal Your promised land we pray. Amen. 

 Jeremiah 11 The Lord had warned Israel and Judah what would happen when they broke the covenant that they had made with Him.  "Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God." 

Leviticus 26 sums up the covenant between Israel and her God.. the blessings of obedience and the penalties of disobedience..  Israel had fallen due to her disobedience  and Judah was on the brink of disaster in Jeremiah's day.. ".. they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not." ( Jer. 11:8)

The people "turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors."

They "refused to hear  [God's] Word."

They chose Baal instead of God. 

The time of repentance and forgiveness was over.  God told Jeremiah to no longer pray for "this people". 

God considered His people a "green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form.."  But He was kindling a fire to destroy it for "its branches are worthless."

The people did not want to hear Jeremiah's warnings any longer. They plotted to kill him... and God knew it and revealed it to him..  "But  I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me.. "  So, when it was exposed..  Jeremiah prayed:

"But, O Lord of hosts , who judges righteously, who tries the feelings and the heart, let me see Thy vengeance on them, for to Thee have I committed my cause."

There are so many things to glean from this passage.. 

How... our world today is just like Judah.. everyone stubbornly doing their own things.. 

How... people today refuse to hear God's Word and plot to stop those who speak it. 

How... so many chose to worship useless, worthless things instead of the One True God. 

How... God sees His creation.. and loves us.. but is a consuming fire to those who refuse to come to Him, listen to His Word, and walk in His ways. 

How... God will judge righteously.. according to our hearts and the fruitfulness of abiding in the Vine. 

Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name.. may Your Name be exalted in all the earth and praised in every nation.  You have not told us to stop praying.. yet.. so we pray now for Your Kingdom to come.. for the Good News of Jesus be told in our nation and around the world. We pray that Your word would spread rapidly and thoroughly through out  the nation today. We pray that hearts will be humbled and that repentance will be granted. We pray that souls will be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We pray that ears will hear and eyes will be opened.. that the Name of Jesus will be lifted up and He will draw many more people to Himself.  We pray this now, O Lord of Hosts,  in the Name of the only Begotten son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. 

 Jeremiah 10  "Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you... " 

The "way of the nations" are "stupid and foolish" (v8)  God's people need not be "terrified by the signs of the heavens".  Nor should they take up the "customs of the peoples"  which are "delusions". 

The "gods" of the nations are delusions.. empty, useless, and deceptive:

"Because it is wood cut from the forest.. they decorate it with silver and gold;  they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good."

In comparison "There is none like Thee, O Lord; Thou are great and great is Thy name in might."  Jeremiah goes on to describe the Lord, "But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation...  It is He who make the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, and brings out the wind from His storehouses." 

O Praise the Name of our great God.. the Lord, Jehovah.. Yahweh.. for He alone is God.. the Maker of heaven and earth.. and there is no other!  Does this Word thrill your heart?  We do not fear.. because the Lord is the living God and everlasting King!  Everything.. every hurricane.. every storm.. every illness.. every trouble.. is subject to His Mighty power!  Hallelujah!  We have a Maker.. and He calls us by name. 

Father in heaven, let Your will be done!  Let Your kingdom come.. Let Your Name be honored in all the earth. Come Lord Jesus!  Amen. 

 Jeremiah 9  This chapter is considered a "lament over Zion".  Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, feels like his eyes are a "fountain of tears".  He sees the coming tragedy.. the land would soon be a "heap of ruins". The beautiful land would become a wilderness..."Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone."  All "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their hearts and after the Baals.. " 

Their sins were piled up.. adultery, lies, slander, deception, hatred.. neighbor against neighbor; brother against brother.  They had become treacherous and dangerous. They refused to repent and return to the Lord.  And worst of all, the Lord said, "they do not know Me."

They would be scattered.. the sword would come.. the wailing would be heard.. "The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field, and like the sheaf after the reaper, but no one will gather them."  

This is the result of turning away from God. It is a tragedy that could have been prevented if the people would have listened to Jeremiah.. but they would not.  It broke his heart. 

May we heed the warning of God's Word.. America is no different.. there are so many who do not know the Lord, who live in sin.. piling up their lies and hate and immorality... becoming treacherous and dangerous.  When people can no longer walk down the street for fear of their lives.. when they cannot trust their neighbor.. or their brother.. when babies are slaughtered or abused or sold.. when children are deceived and mutilated.. when wrong is called right and right is called wrong...  we know that the judgement that came upon Judah can also become our tragic ending.  God does not ignore the sins of a nation. 

Verses 23-24 are important for us to remember.. "Thus says the Lord, 'Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts, boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things, ' declares the Lord." 

Father in heaven, may our hearts be truly circumcised.. with true repentance, as we come to Jesus and find cleansing from the "fountain that flows with blood".   His death and resurrection has given us a great salvation as we trust in You.. May we grow in the grace and Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ that we might know You.. the One true God, the everlasting King, our Maker.. our Father.  Fill us with Your Spirit that we might live in Your ways and do what You command with hearts of love and truth.  We pray these things in the only Name that brings us to You.. Jesus Christ the Lord.  Amen.