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Jeremiah 20 (ESV)

¹ Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ² Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. ³ The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. ⁴ For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. ⁵ Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. ⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

 

REFLECTION:

Pashhur was the official responsible for maintaining order in the temple, and he was also a priest and pretending to be a prophet. After listening to Jeremiah’s words, instead of thinking about it seriously and repenting by action, he beat Jeremiah and put him in the stocks. Although the truth sometimes irritates people, how to treat the truth reflects a person’s character. We can deny the accusations of the truth, eliminate the evidence of mistakes, or accept the facts humbly and honestly, and let the truth transform us. Pashhur thinks he is a mighty leader, but in fact he is just a coward. The name “Pashhur” originally meant “Prosperity All Around”, but it became “Magor-missabib”, which means “Terror on Every Side”. Jeremiah’s prophecy that he said to Pashhur about the subjugation of the kingdom was finally fulfilled when Babylon invaded Judah three times in 586 BC, and Pashhur was also taken into captivity with King Jehoiakim. God’s words will never fail. We should use Pashhur as a negative example, and receive all God’s words to us with awe, including the words that we are not willing to hear. If you despise or disobey the word of God, you will have serious consequences.

 

PRAYER:

Come to God quietly and ask God to examine your heart. Ask God to give you greater faith and more wisdom, so that you can understand all God’s guidance in your life, including those that hurt you. Trust that God’s words and arrangements that you are unwilling to listen to are all for your benefit. Ask God to give you deeper humility so that you can obey all God’s guidance in your life.

 

HYMN:

Speak O Lord – youtu.be/ubRlJj8xkds

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Jeremiah+019
 

Jeremiah 19 (ESV)

¹ Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, ² and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. ³ You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ⁴ Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ⁵ and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ⁶ therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. ⁸ And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. ⁹ And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

 

REFLECTION:

Hinnom Valley is a public garbage dump in Jerusalem, and Topheth means “land of fire”. The Judahites burned their children in Hinnom Valley and sacrificed to Molech (32:35). The massacres prophesied by Jeremiah occurred twice, once in 586 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his troops to attack Jerusalem; the other was when Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. During Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, there was an extreme shortage of food, which caused the horror of cannibalism in the city. Some people even ate their own children, fulfilling what God said (v9). God is loving, righteous and holy at the same time. Judah’s idolatry was corrupted to the point that they even burned their children to sacrifice to the false gods. They greatly offended God and incurred severe retribution from God. Do we often offend God today? Although we may not be as corrupt as the Judahites back then, will we ignore our family in pursuit of worldly values? If so, today is the time to confess your sins to God and repent!

 

PRAYER:

Come to God humbly, ask God to enlighten you, so that you understand where you have sinned against God, and confess your sins to God and repent. Ask God to give you more love and live out the love of Christ in your family. Be a good witness for the Lord among your relatives, so that they can have a closer relationship with you, and also enable you to develop a closer relationship with your family and God.

 

HYMN:

Jesus Draw Me Close – youtu.be/kvKQZBH5rZU

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Jeremiah+018
 

Jeremiah 18 (ESV)

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴ And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶ “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸ and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. ⁹ And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.

 

REFLECTION:

This passage implies that God has absolute sovereignty over the Judahites, as well as absolute sovereignty over our personal lives. God can mould Judah at will, just like a potter working with clay. He continues to mould them, hoping to make them useful vessels. However, the Judahites must be humble and repent, otherwise this clay will harden and become an unsuitable vessel that will be broken. In the same way, God has the right to cultivate and temper our lives, so that we can become people after His own heart. We should not respond to God’s moulding in a passive manner, but should accept His work on us willingly, obey all His arrangements, and become a valuable vessel that suits His wishes. Today, we live in a society that advocates individualism that insists on one’s own opinions, independence, and separation from authority. We should be wary not to let the values of the world infiltrate our relationship with God as it will make us stubborn, arrogant, unwilling to listen to teachings, and unwilling to reform. Otherwise, as our character develops, we will gradually become enemies of God.

 

PRAYER:

Pray to God, ask Him to give you more godliness, and don’t forget that He is always with you in the turbulent flow of the world. Ask God to prevent you from being affected by the individualistic thoughts that flood the entire society today, so that you have a heart of reverence and obedience, not to be stubborn in everything but seeks the will of God and obeys all His arrangements.

 

HYMN:

Take My Life And Let It Be – youtu.be/kA9zA7O6bH0

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Jeremiah+017
 

Jeremiah 17 (ESV)

⁷ “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
⁸ He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”

¹¹ Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is he who gets riches but not by justice;
in the midst of his days they will leave him,
and at his end he will be a fool.

¹² A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ O Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.

¹⁴ Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for you are my praise.

 

REFLECTION:

This passage compares the two types of people who rely on people and those who rely on God. The people of Judah did not trust in Jehovah, but relied on idols and human power, so they became as desolate as deserts and wilderness. On the contrary, those who rely on Jehovah, as described in Psalm 1, are like a tree planted by a stream, and it will bear fruit on time without its leaves withering. In this passage, God clearly pointed out that the root of our sin lies in our own hearts, not social or family reasons. We have a tendency to sin since we were born and it is easy to forget and abandon God, but we can choose whether to continue sinning. When we are tempted by sin, we can easily fall into a trap, or we can ask God to save and help us to escape the snare. In addition, Jeremiah also pointed out that those who use improper means to get rich instantly, will eventually lead to stupidity and poverty. Today, we are in a world that is even more treacherous and corrupt than Jeremiah’s time. We should never abandon our God, seek His salvation and help, and draw strength from Him, because He is the fountain of living water. And we should remember that whether it is work or study, we should all be honest. Anyone who uses disgraceful means to get promoted, pass exams, or gain fame and status will not be blessed by the Lord, nor will it bring long-term benefits.

 

PRAYER:

Pray for God to strengthen your heart so that you can stand firm and not fall into the traps and snares of the world. Pray for God to enlighten you and enable you to examine whether some of the benefits you currently have are obtained in a way that offends God. If so, confess your sins to God and repent, and ask God to give you strength so that you will never commit the same weakness in the future.

 

HYMN:

As The Deer – youtu.be/5rrXC5uKVb4