Pain And Strive In Reading Jeremiah

Never have I thought, by the grace of God, I would read Jeremiah again. Some of my friends say I have the gift of knowledge, in which specifically to recall Scripture reference and know the Bible a lot. I take that as a compliment. I just spoke on knowledge because I remember the horror and pain and strive in reading the book of Jeremiah the prophet. I do not mean the book is hard and dull to read, and I have to wrestle with the dull passages. What I really mean, is the emotional impact that it gave me when I read the horrendous evil and the atrocity that the Israelite had committed in the history of Jews.

Jeremiah the prophet was called into ministry by God as a youth to prophecy to the nation of Judah. The time that he was called was during the last couple of kings before Babylon came and invade Jerusalem in 586 BC. Jeremiah saw the atrocity and he saw how Jerusalem was destroyed. And he was persecuted and throw into torture for prophesying against Judah and telling them to repent. Again and again throughout the book of Jeremiah, there is sin after sin after sin, and nobody repented. Because Judah's sin, God's unleashes His wrath and cast judgement upon Jerusalem. At the same time, there is a promise, a new covenant, and hope being made in the middle of Jeremiah, but I'm not going to talk about that in this post. Read these passages and get a feel for Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 2:12-13

Jeremiah 3:1

Jeremiah 3:6-8

Jeremiah 4:22-26

Jeremiah 5:3

Jeremiah 7:30-31

Jeremiah 10:14-15

Jeremiah 11:7-8

I'm usually a long reader, so I read a chunk of chapters during my devotion. Absorbing what the Word of God says, I feel overwhelmed, emotional, and about to tear up. Most of the time, I think, when Christians read the Old Testament, they mock, tease, insult the Israelite for being stupid and wonder why they would not repent and turn to God knowing that they would be judged. Christians, remember what the Apostle Paul said:

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

(1 Corinthians 10:11)

They were written down for our instruction. Why? So that we too won't fall into the same idolatry as they did. They were examples for us as to the consequence of idolatry. So too during the Jeremiah's time, the Jews whore after other gods like Baals and abandoning Yahweh.

We too are as sinful as they were. We are no different. In this society, the temptation to fall into idolatry is everywhere. We worship and praise something or someone other than God Himself. For me, reading Jeremiah helps me to also see that I am also a sinner and I am also an idolater, but Christ has redeemed me and saved me. And my old self is put away and I am a new creature in Christ. Because of what Christ through His death and resurrection, and when we die to sin and become alive in Christ, we can to put to death what is earthly (Colossians 3:5). Christians, let me urge you to reading the book of Colossians and understand the impact the gospel makes in a believer's life.