The struggle to live for God (Jer 20:7-18)
Jer 20:7-18 This final glimpse into Jeremiah’s personal thoughts (the last of what commentators call Jeremiah’s ‘confessions’ in the book) reads like some of the psalms of lament, anguished and painful as it fluctuates between faith in God and despair.…
Radical surgery: the necessity to die (Jer 19:1-20:6)
Jer 19:1-15; 20:1-6 I must admit that this chapter is grim, unrelieved by any hope. Judgment is inevitable, the people are hardened, the disaster prophesied for so long can no longer be avoided. We would like to see a happy…
Does God ever change His mind? (Jeremiah 18)
Jer 18:1-23 The old TV series, Open All Hours, is about a local shopkeeper’s comic machinations to sell rubbish to customers like the indecisive Mavis. When asked if she wants a tin of beans or a tin of lentils, she…
Diagnosing our heart condition (Jeremiah 17)
Jer 17:1-27 Abraham Lincoln refused to include a person in his cabinet because he didn’t like the man’s face. ‘But the poor man is not responsible for his face’, objected the person recommending him. ‘After forty, everyone is responsible for…
The cost of making God known (Jer 16:1-21)
Jer 16:1-21 The passage today ends on the nations coming and knowing God (Jer 16:19, 21), but what does this mean? How can God be known when He is invisible? His actions in the world, of course, demonstrate His power,…
How God responds to our despair (Jer 15:10-21)
Jer 15:10-21 Some years ago, I heard a pastor talk about the cost of ministry and to illustrate this, he read out his journal entries of a typical week. His description was a litany of woes about church meetings that…
Is there a time when God does not forgive? (Jer 14:1-15:9)
Jer 14:1-22; 15:1-9 We like to think of God as infinitely forgiving, ‘the God of second chances’ and given that Jesus told his disciples to forgive seventy times seven (Matt 18:21-22), it is hard to imagine that God would have…
When God exposes our inconsistencies (Jer 13:1-27)
Jer 13:1-27 Twenty-odd years ago on a tourist trip to Israel, I was struck by the way our Jewish guide took pride in his people’s special place in history. Talking of the Jerusalem temple, he joked that Jews had a…
Should we let go of justice when we forgive? (Jer 11:18-12:17)
Jer 11:18-23; 12:1-17 One time when I was giving a lecture on Isaiah 53, the Suffering Servant who was crushed and wounded and endured suffering that we may be healed, someone asked me whether an abused person should keep accepting…
How to live with delays in justice? (Jer 11:18-12:17)
Jer 11:18-23; 12:1-17 During my gap year working in a Christian youth hostel in Israel, the manager went with his family on a six-months furlough to the States. His deputy, installed for the interim, turned out to be a difficult…