Jeremiah 11-15
The disaster God has promised to the wayward, willful people of Israel seems surer that ever. “I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape,” God says through Jeremiah (11:11). “I will ruin the pride Judah,” God says (13:9). “All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away,” God declares (13:19). Accompanying this, there will be no water, no rain, no grass and no pasture;” (14:1-6) their devastation will be complete!
This terrible stuff is so certain that God instructs Jeremiah NOT to pray for them anymore (11:14; 14:11) and not to trust them (12:6). God says that even Moses and Samuel, if they were praying, could not dissuade Him from this terrible course!
So, what is there to do?
Jeremiah has his own issues to deal with, above and beyond the general hard heartedness of the people:
- They’ve turned, some of them, on him! The men of his home town, Anathoth, conspired against him. (11:18-23)
- Jeremiah himself is struggling with despair and doubt. (12:1-4; 14:17f)
- Jeremiah, like Job, mourns his own birth. (15:10)
God’s answer to Jeremiah is to give him a reason for long-term hope: “After I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country.” (12:15)
At the end of these chapters, God has a special word for Jeremiah personally: “Repent, and I will make you a (strong) wall to this people. I will save you from the hands of the wicked!” (15:19-21)
Yes, even if people fall away, leaders must stay the course and “practice what they’ve preached.”
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
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