The Main Text: The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and...
Scripture: Jeremiah 18:1-6 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the...
David Zimmerman has survived leaps of faith, but will this one work out? Read about his recent job change and be encouraged.
I sat alone in my car on the side of a four-lane highway somewhere in rural Indiana. Sheets of rain were falling from bloated clouds, forming muddy puddles in the early summer cornfields that...
The Israelites in exile in Babylon were most likely not expecting to hear this word from the Lord. In fact, they were hearing quite different things from other prophets. They expected deliverance, not this.
When I was a kid, my parents decided to build their own home. It was a marvelous plan – a beautiful house...
Although the book of Jeremiah includes a fifty-second chapter, the prophet’s messages come to an end in chapter fifty one. Most of this chapter contains an ongoing prophecy of the fall of Babylon....
In Jeremiah 47, the Lord promised to destroy what is left of the Philistines of Gaza.
Most of Jeremiah 46 is directed, not at the Jews, but at the Egyptians. In this chapter, God promises to punish Egypt at the hand of Babylon, reminding us that God is the...
At the end of Jeremiah 41, the remnant of the Jewish people left by the Babylonians in Judah “prepared to leave for Egypt” (41:17). They were understandably fearful of the Babylonians, especially...
The opening verses of Jeremiah can be unsettling if you have been reading this book in order. In chapter 39, King Nebuchadnezzar...
The beginning of Jeremiah 39 tells the sad tale of the fall of Jerusalem.
After decades of faithful ministry as God’s prophet, Jeremiah’s life wasn’t turning out as he might have hoped.
During the forty years of Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry, the Lord spoke through his prophet in various ways in an effort to communicate his will to the Jewish people. Jeremiah 35 contains an...
Jeremiah 33 begins with bad news for Jerusalem: the Babylonians will soon defeat and destroy the city because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. But the chapter progresses quickly from bad to...
The early chapters of Jeremiah featured warnings for the Israelites to stop their idolatrous rejection of God, lest he judge them in a devastating way. Then, the prophecies of Jeremiah became even...
In Jeremiah 31, the prophet reveals God’s vision for the future of his people. This vision peers beyond their immediate circumstances and exile in Babylon. It foresees the time when the Lord will...
Jeremiah 31 is a vision of the future day when the Lord restores his people, bringing them back to Israel. Not one of God’s people will be excluded from this return from exile...
Because, for centuries, the Jews had consistently disobeyed the Lord, worshiping idols and rejecting justice, he finally sent the Babylonians to sack Jerusalem and take the finest of her people...
Though we may have little opportunity to impact major structures of our society, we can touch our neighbors and colleagues. We can...
Jeremiah 25 is surely one of the more distressing passages in all of Scripture, for it reveals the imminent judgment of God upon, not just Israel, but all of its neighbors as well.
How many times have you heard Christians say, “God told me to do this” or “The Lord told me to do that”...
I've witnessed dozens of children's sermons. In fact, I’ve probably given a few dozen as well.
Throughout my life as a Christian, I’ve heard people speak of God as the potter and us as the clay. Almost always, the point of this analogy is God’s forming us to be...
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 17:6 Why did Judah find itself...
“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the LORD. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves.” Jeremiah 16:1...
The prophet Jeremiah announced God’s coming judgment to the Israelites for their consistent rejection of God and his ways. Jeremiah knew all too well that the people deserved what was coming their...
Jeremiah 11 harkens back to the time when the children of Israel, having recently been delivered from Egypt, were camped in front of Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19). There, God established his covenant with...
As the Lord revealed through Jeremiah the coming devastation of Judah, the prophet did not deliver bad news with clinical detachment. Rather, he identified with his people and their suffering. ...
Last Friday, I offered some reflections on Jeremiah 7:11. I explained how the Temple had become, for many Jews in the time of Jeremiah, like a “den of thieves.” They believed that they were safe...
As the residents of Judah continued to disregard God’s law, reveling in idolatry and injustice, they believed they were safe from God’s judgment because of the Temple in Jerusalem. After all, the...
When I was a boy, I loved watching The Adventures of Superman on television. In glorious black and white, George Reeves starred as the Man of Steel whose superpowers saved lives and captured...
After the death of King Solomon in 931 B.C., Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms failed in their faithfulness.
In Jeremiah 2, the Lord explains why the Israelites have fallen into such grave difficulties. Verse 13 narrows down to two their offenses: “For my people have done two evil things: They have...
In Jeremiah 2, the Lord speaks through the prophet to indict Jerusalem for rejecting God and his ways. The people started well, “eager to please” the Lord (2:2). They were “holy” before him, and he...
The Lord called Jeremiah to a daunting task. He was to be God’s “prophet to the nations” (1:5). In this role, Jeremiah would “stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some [he] must uproot...
Today I begin to focus on the Old Testament book of Jeremiah in the Daily Reflections. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I go back and forth between the...
The records of the earliest prophets are woven into the history of Israel in the books of Joshua through 2 Kings, rather...
The table below shows where in time the prophets fit within the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Period Northern Kings Northern Prophets Southern Kings Southern Prophets United kingdom...
Jeremiah and Lamentations encourage faithfulness to God in all areas of life, including work.
The fundamental issue in the book of Jeremiah is whether the people will be faithful to God in the midst of a...
Most of us find our workplaces to be difficult, at least at times. One of the appeals of the book of Jeremiah...
The Book of Jeremiah reflects the ever-worsening situation Jeremiah encountered. At various times, he had the unenviable tasks of challenging the religious...
The book of Jeremiah is not organized as a treatise on work. Because of this, work-related topics appear at scattered places in...
As we have seen, God prepared Jeremiah from before his birth for the work of a prophet (Jer. 1:5) and, at the...
Long before Jeremiah lived, God declared that work is good for people (Genesis 1-2). As we have noted elsewhere, Jeremiah’s method was...
Jeremiah complained that “this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away” (Jer. 5:23). It is...
Does God withhold material success from those who do evil in his sight? Jeremiah says what few modern Christians would dare to...
Injustice Failing to acknowledge God as the source of good harvests, the people of Judah soon lost any sense of accountability to...
We see in Jeremiah 5 that the people did not acknowledge God’s provision. If the people did not acknowledge God as the...
Jeremiah also turned his attention to the rhythm of work and rest. As always, the prophet began with God’s earlier self-revelation; in...
In Jeremiah chapter 29, the prophet draws attention to God’s intention that his people's work should bless and serve the communities around...
God’s presence is no longer to be found only in Jerusalem or Judah, but even in the enemy’s capital city.
The work of Christians in their faithfulness to God is intended for the good of everyone.
For twenty-three years, Jeremiah prophesied the coming destruction of Jerusalem (from God’s case against Judah in chapter 2 through chapter 28).[1] Then...
One of the final new commands from God in Jeremiah is the renunciation of slavery (Jer. 34:9). The Law of Moses required Hebrew slaves to be set free after six years of service...
The bulk of the rest of Jeremiah describes Jeremiah’s trials as a prophet (chapters 35-45), his oracles against the nations (chapters 46-51)...
Do you wonder if God has anything to say about your work? Explore key verses from each chapter of the Bible that...
What does disruption mean for the legal profession and our jobs/role/identity? Lucy is reading yet another article about “disruption” and how it...
