15 O Lord, you know;
remember me and visit me,
and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
know that for your sake I bear reproach. 16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts. 17 I did not sit in the company of revelers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
for you had filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
but you shall not turn to them. 20 And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord. 21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
REFLECTION:
Jeremiah blamed God for not helping him when he needed His help the most. Jeremiah felt anger, pain, and fear in his heart. He only took pity for his own experience and no longer focused on God’s will. God was not angry at Jeremiah, but just re-adjusted Jeremiah’s priorities through His response. As the spokesperson of God, Jeremiah’s primary duty is to influence others, not to be influenced by others. This passage reminds us that as God’s children, God wants us to trust Him in everything. We can express our deepest thoughts and emotions to God through prayer, even if we blame God. God will be gracious to us like He did to Jeremiah. He will be with us and save us from evil. At the same time, He also wants us to understand that no matter what environment we are in or what difficulties we encounter, as God’s people, our primary task is to represent God to influence those in the world who don’t know God, and to bear witness for God to manifest His glory.
PRAYER:
Pour out your incomprehension and even complaints about God in your heart, and listen carefully to God’s loving response. Ask God to make you obey the incomprehensible things, and lead you through this obedience. Make you a humble and holy child of God so that not only you will not be affected by the world, but to be a good witness for God among the non-believers.
19 Have you utterly rejected Judah?
Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror. 20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
and the iniquity of our fathers,
for we have sinned against you. 21 Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;
do not dishonour your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Lord our God?
We set our hope on you,
for you do all these things.
REFLECTION:
This chapter and the next chapter begin with the drought that God will send to Judah and that God will not listen to their prayers for rain, and then describe the scene of future judgment that Jeremiah prophesied. The drought is a devastating disaster that God brought to the judgment of Judah. Facing this disaster, the people of Judah did not ask God for help until they were desperate. However, they only wanted God’s help and rescue, but they still refused to repent of their sins. Jeremiah interceded for the people, asking God whether he would save the people of Judah after they repented. God said that he would not, because the people of Judah did a lot of evil and were stubborn and had no sincerity to repent. Although they know that God is willing to bless and what to do to be blessed, they just want to be blessed and don’t want to do their part. When we do something wrong, it’s easy to express regret, and it’s easier to gain benefits by superficial regret. However, the most important thing is to stop committing sins immediately. We should remember that true repentance includes two steps: “repent” and “reform”. Repentance without reform is just a fake verbal promise and will never please God. God is merciful and He forgives all those who sincerely repent. However, God is also righteous and He will severely punish hypocrites.
PRAYER:
Pray for God to mould your life so that you can have a deeper experience, not only at the level of praying for God’s blessing, but being able to deal with your sins more thoroughly. Confess to God the sins you understand in your heart but have been unwilling to confess. Resolve to God to put your repentance into action, no matter how great the cost of repentance is.
1Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, 4 “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. 6 And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. 11 For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
REFLECTION:
Jeremiah used dramatic actions to convey God’s message according to God’s instructions, because actions give a deeper impression in people, often more than words. Jeremiah repeatedly used actions to preach the message, in order to arouse the curiosity and alertness of the people, so that they could understand his meaning better. The spoiled linen loincloth is a metaphor for the end of the Kingdom of Judah. Although those people had a close relationship with God, they were cast aside by God because of their arrogance and pride and became worthless waste. Proud people always overestimate everything about themselves and often appear pretentious, but God says that pride makes them worthless. Pride will corrupt our hearts until our lives have fallen to a point where they are of no use value in the eyes of God. Pride is one of the most serious sins of all sins. Pride can make people who have been close to God far away from God, and even resist and disobey God. The fall of the devil is due to pride. We should be vigilant and remember the image of the spoiled linen loincloth of Jeremiah in our hearts. We should always be reminded to be humble, not to give the devil a foothold, and not to let pride corrupt our soul and life to a point where we become worthless in the eyes of God.
PRAYER:
Pray that God will make you remember the spoiled linen loincloth of Jeremiah, which represents the corruption of life brought about by pride. Pray that God will examine your heart so that you can see your pride hidden in the depths of your soul. Ask God to destroy this pride no matter if it is expressed in overestimating oneself, judging others, or any other form of expression.
