Jeremiah 1 to 8
This book was written by a man who lived after Isaiah; he was also a prophet, one who told the people what God told him. You may have seen pictures of prophets as old men with white hair, but Jeremiah was not old when he began to tell Gods words. At first, when God told him to speak to the people, he said,
“I cannot speak; for I am a child.” But the Lord said, “Say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall scud thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.”
Perhaps you think it would be easy to tell God’s words, and that the people would gladly listen, but many of them had idols, and were taking money from the poor to make themselves rich and doing other wrong ways, so then did not want to hear of God. He knew they would not treat Jeremiah kindly, and told him,
Jeremiah kept on telling the words of God more than forty years, but was roughly treated and put in prison. He also wrote the words God said, which we now read. Jeremiah’s home was near Jerusalem, and he spoke to the kings, queens and rulers there. The first king he was sent to was the good young king, Josiah, who was glad to hear tire words of God, but his sons and grandsons, ruling after him, were wicked young men and led the people to do evil. God sent Jeremiah to tell them the right. He said He would plead with their children’s children (Jer. 2:99Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children will I plead. (Jeremiah 2:9)). Even the children were helping to get wood to make cakes to worship idols (Jer. 7:1818The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. (Jeremiah 7:18)).
We think it strange they prayed to images carved from wood and deck with silver and gold, which could not move or hear, instead of giving honor to the Lord Who had created all the earth. But do we, too, forget the great power of the Lord? Have you Seen the big ocean waves rush up over the sand? Did you wonder why they went back again instead of corning farther? Think of these words,
“Fear ye not Me, saith the Lord, will ye not tremble at My presence, which have placed the sand for the bond ‘ofthe sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the “waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?” Jeremiah 5:2222Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? (Jeremiah 5:22).
The wild birds do as God has given them instinct, each year they fly from the warm lands to cooler lands, then before the cold winter there, they Hy back in large flocks.
The storks and cranes are such large birds that when a flock of them fly over a land it must be a great sight, they fly from Africa to northern Europe in the spring, and back again in the fall. These birds all fear the cold winter, but the people did not care that God must punish them for sins. They rushed, into sin “as a horse rusheth into battle.” Jeremiah 8:66I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. (Jeremiah 8:6).
The harvest and summer are for people to be readyfor winter: When God tells us His words it is the time for us to be saved from sins. Is this verse true of any of you?
ML 02/15/1942