Week 44

Jeremiah 40-52, Lamentations 1-5, and Psalms 107-115

In someways I felt that this week’s passages were all over the place-

As we finish up Jeremiah we are seeing the after effects of the fall of Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan releases Jeremiah, and the governor put in charge of what remains of Jerusalem is assassinated by the survivors of the previous royal family. So then because these must be the densest people in the world- they ask Jeremiah to ask God about them going to Egypt. God definitively says no, don’t go; if you go you will die. So obviously what are they going to do?! You guessed it- they don’t believe Jeremiah and THEY GO 🤦‍♀️ Is this that moment when you’re making eye contact with you kid as they do the thing you just explicitly told them not to do?! 😩

Then we see where God is basically condemning all the neighboring people. They have been worshipping idols and now they are going to pay for their disobedience. I of course enjoyed the little cliff notes summary that we ended the chapter with- it is just so nice to have “previously on” section to finish out a book where so much happened. Sometimes I feel like by the time I’ve reached the end, I’ve almost forgotten where we started and EVERYTHING that was covered.

But whoa- can we back up real quick? So remember last week, we talked about how our lives, our “where” is solely based on God’s glory? How our comfort is a by product of seeking to bring God glory? It can’t be the other way around and sometimes seeking God’s will is in fact uncomfortable! So do we not see that perfectly exemplified here? Look back in chapter 40- why does Nebuchadnezzar tell Jeremiah Jerusalem fell? A member of the winning team is literally standing here telling a member of the losing team- you lost because “The Lord, YOUR GOD, decreed this disaster”. “This happened because your people sinned against the Lord and did not obey Him.“ So Babylon, a foreign people- did they even worship or follow God? And yet they are acknowledging that they carried out God’s will by attacking God’s people! And despite that- when we get further on, over to chapter 50, we then see that Babylon is also going to be plundered and fall.

Lamentations was interesting to me. I thought the word lamentations meant kind of like apologies- a book of apologies. And I guess it kinda does but it more means expressing sorrow or grief- and this book sorta kinda does that but funny enough in the midst of expressing the sorrow of not obeying God and acknowledging that they are being punished for their disobedience, they are also calling out to God asking where He is- “why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?” Guys!!

The section of Psalms was a perfect ending to this week- Psalms of praise. Psalms acknowledging that God will love us forever- we will fall short, we will disobey- despite our attempts at a Godly life- God may have to slap us on the wrist (hopefully not to the extent of Jerusalem) but at the end of the day, HE LOVES US & ALWAYS WILL.

Ok, last and final takeaway for this week- sorry, I know it’s getting a little long winded, but there was a lot to cover in this particular section! We’ve previously talked about the Proverbs 31 woman and the Romans 12 person, but here Psalm 112 really jumped out at me as that same kind of passage but for men. What a great outline for a Godly man!!

Ok I’m done, finally! 😉 Bell rings, “class” dismissed. Thanks for sticking with me through that long winded post!! What did you get out of this section? New takeaways or thoughts??