Author: admin

One of the severest punishments God can inflict upon people is to withdraw His presence from them. This is the essence of Hell.

Yet when God did this to His people in Jeremiah’s day, they didn’t even notice. They had become so disoriented to God and so dependent upon other

Gods, they never cried out to God, even when they experienced hardship. God expressed dismay that even after all He had done to reclaim His people’s attention, they still refused to cry out to Him.

How tragic when we grow so alienated from God that even calamity and pain does not drive us to our knees. How pitiful when we grow so accustomed to living without the Holy Spirit’s work in our life that we don’t even notice when He withdraws His manifest presence from us. When a people degenerate to that point, all that is left is judgment.

We live in a day when our nation is experiencing the withdrawal of God’s hand. Disasters and crises are commonplace. Human suffering is epidemic. Yet even God’s own people refuse to cry out to Him for deliverance. Instead we look to government agencies or financial institutions to rescue us. We turn to every other deliverer but God. What will it take for God’s people to cry out to Him, once more?

We creatures of dust are an audacious lot. Not only do we have the nerve to turn our backs on our Creator, but when we begin to suffer the inevitable consequences, we find a way to blame God for our discomfort!

God had showered blessings upon His people. He had delivered them from their bondage. He had provided them with abundance. God had protected them from their enemies and enabled them to defeat nations more powerful than they were. Yet that was not enough.

God’s people lusted after the immoral temptations offered by the pagan gods and customs. Incredibly, the blessings of heaven were not sufficient for God’s people. They wanted that which they had been told they could not have. So they turned their backs on the one Person who had loved them steadfastly.

God might ask us a similar question. What injustice has He been guilty of in His dealings with you? How has He been unfaithful to you? Why is it that despite all He has done for you, you do not love Him with all of your heart?

It ought to bring us enormous comfort to know that despite our inexcusable waywardness, God always remembers the tenderness of our earlier walk with Him. Though our hearts may have grown cold toward Him, He continues to remember when we were fervent in our devotion. While we may forget where we have come from, God never forgets what our walk with Him once was and could be again.

God’s people had wandered far from their earlier commitment to God. Whereas they had once placed their trust in their God; now they were hoping in deliverance from people. Whereas they once had repented of their sins, now they claimed they had not transgressed. Whereas their worship was once vibrant and sincere, now it was dead and infrequent. To observe God’s people at this time would have been disheartening to even the most seasoned prophet. But God remembered.

God is continually working to restore His people into the vibrant walk with Him they once had. God never loses hope. He never compromises His standards for His people. He knows what could be. So He continually works to bring us to that place. We may be distracted, but God remains forever focused.

We tend to forget that God spoke these words to a timid teenager! To anyone who knew Jeremiah at that time, the last thing they would have thought of was a fortified city! Jeremiah looked more like a trembling leaf or a tender flower. Yet God was preparing him to be a fortress of righteousness.

This humble youth would oppose kings and princes. The most powerful people in the nation would consider him their enemy. Yet for decade after decade, enemies would come and go but Jeremiah would remain as an outspoken testimony to God’s word. Though people desperately wanted to silence the meddlesome prophet, Jeremiah would remain steadfast in delivering God’s unwavering word.

God has ways of transforming even the most gentle and kind servant into a stronghold of godliness and truth. Is that what He has made you to become? Do people know they can depend upon you to remain unwavering in your convictions and loyalty to God? Do people see you firmly resisting every assault of wickedness? Do the enemies of God know what they can expect from you?

What manner of fortress for God are you?

Desperate times call for dramatic actions. Jeremiah would never be allowed the luxury of living a typical teenager’s life. That was because he did not live in ordinary times.

Had Jeremiah lived in a different time, he might have had the pleasure of pronouncing God’s blessing upon the people. But this was not one of those times. The nation had drifted far from God. It was in no condition to receive words of commendation. Rather, dark storm clouds of judgment were brewing. God’s words were harsh and difficult to deliver. Jeremiah knew that the most powerful people in the land would hate what he had to say. He must have known that the ministry to which God had called him would make him the most unpopular person in the land. His divine calling would invite scorn. It was a difficult calling indeed.

That is why God told His youthful spokesperson to prepare himself. God exhorted Jeremiah not to be dismayed. God knew that discouragement would be plentiful. Yet that was the task to which God was calling His new prophet.

Don’t be deceived into assuming that God would never ask you to do something that is difficult or painful. We need look no further than Jeremiah to see that God may call us to extremely challenging assignments. God’s call may push us to the limit of our endurance. That is why we also ought to prepare ourselves. And, it is why we must determine that we will not allow people to intimidate or discourage us. Our calling hinges on God, not people’s response.

Few things in the ancient world were any more terrifying than enemy armies encamped at the gates and walls of your city. To set a throne at someone’s gate meant you were not merely passing through. Rather, you had come to stay. You intended a total occupation. There would be no reprieve. When Judah’s enemies came against them, the destruction they wrought would be thorough.

What was perhaps most terrifying was not merely that Judah’s dreaded enemies had come against them, but that God was the One who had summoned them. Typically the people of Judah would cry out to God for deliverance when their enemies invaded the land. But who could they call out to if their own God was the One who had brought their calamity upon them? When your God is allied with your enemy, what hope do you have?

The people of Judah had taken God for granted. They assumed He was available at their beck and call. They thought they could ignore God until they had a need of Him. They believed that no matter how irreverently they behaved, God would always forgive them and come to their aid. They were about to learn the devastating truth that you cannot take God for granted. If you do, a time will come when calamity strikes, and God is found with your enemy, rather than with you.

When God speaks to us a second time, it certainly behooves us to pay attention! God spoke to Jeremiah not only once, but a second time. Clearly God was extremely serious about what He was declaring.

At times we fail to heed God’s first word, so we are in no position to respond to a second one! Not so with Jeremiah. He accepted God’s first message and so a second one soon followed. You have no need of a second divine message if you have failed to receive the first one!

What God said was devastating. Judgment was coming. And it was going to be severe. Every inhabitant of Judah would experience the impact of God’s word. No one was exempt. God’s retribution would as widespread as it was thorough.

In this case God was going to use Judah’s enemy to punish her. Many generations earlier, God had promised that when His people obeyed Him, He would grant them victory over their enemies. But when God’s people rejected Him, then their enemies would defeat them. Now God’s people were about to experience how reliable God’s word was!

Today there are many enemies that surround our nation. We ought to be alert that God may choose to use one of them to bring His judgment upon us.

God is infinitely patient and gracious. But a time will come when He will no longer delay His judgment on sin. The wonder is not that God punishes wickedness, but that He allows evil to go unchastised for so long. Yet be certain of this: a day will come when God says “Enough!”

God asked Jeremiah to look upon an almond tree. That plant was always the first sign of spring. When you saw an almond tree in bloom, you knew winter was over and a new season had come. Seeing the almond tree in bloom alerted the prophet that God was now going to act upon His word. God’s patience had run its course. The period of grace was at an end. Judgment was now commencing.

There may be times when we wonder why God does not act more vigorously against evil. We may question why the wicked continue to prosper even as they exploit the innocent. But a time is approaching when God’s patience is finished and He chooses to act. There are already signs in our day that the day of God’s judgment is drawing near. Can you see them?

God’s servants ought to be the most humble people on earth. Yet they are also the most powerful. For when God appoints them to be His spokespeople, they can speak a word that brings down even the mightiest kingdom. Kings ought to tremble when a servant of God speaks, for one word from them can topple a monarchy and cause the defeat of the mightiest army.

Never minimize your role as a servant of the Most High. For you carry with you great authority. You speak on behalf of the Lord of the universe. Every resource of heaven stands ready to support your statements.

When you speak words of judgment, mighty kingdoms will come tumbling down. When you utter words of blessing, the parched earth can be transformed into an oasis. It is not because of you; but because of your God.

Jeremiah was but a teenager, yet as God’s representative, the young man held an enormous office.

Do you tend to put yourself down or to minimize your role? If you do, you must stop. For never disparage your role as a servant of God. With your role comes vast powers and authority. When you speak the will of heaven, no king or army or spiritual force can prevent your words from coming to pass.

What is it that almighty God has given you to say?

If it were not for the Lord’s hand, we would be hopelessly unable to fulfill His assignments. God grants us God-sized assignments. They might at first glance appear to be possible, but the God-sized dimensions and possibilities always take us to a place where we cannot possibly succeed apart from His intervention.

Thankfully we can always count on His hand. In Jeremiah’s case, he was asked to deliver a difficult message to a hostile audience. Complicating matters, the youth did not feel competent as a speaker. This was truly a recipe for disaster! But then God’s hand came upon him. God’s hand changes everything!

Before God’s hand touched him, Jeremiah was certainly unqualified for the divine task. After God’s hand came upon him, there was nothing he could not do! It would have been foolish for Jeremiah to attempt a divine work apart from Gods hand. After God touched him, it would have been foolish to continue to fear or to hesitate.

Is God’s hand upon you? What is the evidence?