Jeremiah 14
Outline
1-9 | Drought conditions in Judah
10-12 | God promises to no longer listen to the people when they pray but will end them with “sword, famine, and pestilence.”
13-18 | False prophets denounced
19-22 | A prayer for mercy
Reflections
I want to concentrate my reflections on two passages (underlining added).
Jeremiah 14:10 NASB Thus says the LORD to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account.”
Jeremiah 14:18 NASB ‘If I go out to the country, Behold, those slain with the sword! Or if I enter the city, Behold, diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest Have gone roving about in the land that they do not know.'”
When one begins a journey, its completion is best accomplished if you stay on the directed course. Here we find that the people, the prophet, and the priest have wandered off the directed course and are without direction.
God has outlined in His Word the course He wants His people to follow but we often times seek to make our own way through life. Jesus warned about this as well. We all have a choice in which path we follow—which will we choose?
Matthew 7:13-14 NASB “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Luke 13:24 NASB “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
The people are calling out to God asking for Him to have mercy on them and to not forget them (v7-9, 19-22). God replies that He has had enough.
Jeremiah 14:11-12 NASB So the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.”
Their prophets were all professing that God won’t destroy them with sword or famine, but God promises that those same prophets were not speaking for Him and He had not given them any message to proclaim. In fact those prophets will come to an end by the very things they were saying would never happen.
Make sure that you stay on the right path, the narrow path, the road less traveled, so that you will find life and not destruction. To quote Robert Frost:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Read more at brainyquotes.com
Lord God, Master of the Universe, we pray that You will always help us to choose wisely in this life and never wander far from the path that leads to life. We pray that Your Spirit will guide us on our way, bringing to our remembrance passages from Your Word to provide for us the wisdom we need in each moment or when facing a temptation. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Jeremiah_14_RL_Drought-Destruction-FalseProphets-PrayerForMercy.pdf
