The pandemic has seemed to touch most peoples’s lives in way or another. One of my close family members was in ICU recently. How has covid touched your life or otherwise affected you? Masking, social distancing, staying home, homeschooling kids, losing business and connections–it presents challenges. Do you want someone to talk and pray about it? Please respond at the end. This Bible study in Jeremiah helps us discover 5 ways to adjust to the pandemic or other crises. How would we react if someone gave us bad news, such as
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- the terminal illness of a loved one
- the loss of our house or job
- being told we will have an extended hospital stay because of a Covid Delta virus
- we will be imprisoned for a long time
Accept and Make the Best of It
Under instructions from the LORD, Jeremiah writes a letter from Jerusalem to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The LORD’s message for them is to accept their punishment and make the best of it. He directs them toBuild houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper (Jeremiah 29:5-7, NIV).This is not what they want to hear—they want to go home!
Don’t Give In to False Hopes
What about the prophets with them in exile—what do they have to say about their situation? The prophets are telling them that they will soon be going back home and taking all the articles of the temple with them. In a summary response to this, God says through Jeremiah,They are not my prophets. Don’t listen to their lies. After seventy years and when your hearts have changed, I will bring you back to the land. The land and people of Jerusalem you now know will be destroyed by plague, famine, and sword. There is no hope for it or them because of their wickedness. All this calamity has come because you and they have not listened to me and turned from sin. Those who prophesy lies to you will also die.Again, this message is not what they want to hear. There is a future hope for Israel and Judah, but it is not near. They refuse to accept the words of Jeremiah. If the same message were given to our country, would we want to listen? The LORD was extraordinarily patient and longsuffering with Israel and Judah. His righteousness, however, demands that sin must not go unpunished forever.
Seek Restoration with God
If we are in the wrong, have we fooled ourselves into thinking that God does not see our sin and wickedness? He does. He will punish those who do not turn to him from their sin and seek forgiveness. Let’s live continually in reverence for the LORD and ask forgiveness from him when we sin. “He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9). Not only are the exiles deceiving themselves, but the people still living in Jerusalem are as well. They also have false prophets telling them that soon the refugees and the temple articles will return, and the yoke of bondage to the Babylonians will be removed. They do not want to listen to the words of judgment from Jeremiah.The LORD Acts with Purpose
Jeremiah responds to the small number of Jews remaining in Jerusalem,This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’ But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds (Jeremiah 23:16-23 NIV).
Submit to God’s Plan
Jeremiah, therefore, encourages Jerusalem’s submission to the yoke of Babylonian rule. He instructs them not to resist the punishment, so things will go better for them, and they can remain in their land. The LORD also kills the false prophet, Hananiah, in Jerusalem, for prophesying lies. Unfortunately, however, the king and the people of Jerusalem continue in further wickedness and will not listen. Take-Away Lessons How should we accept life’s challenges?- We should accept it from the hand of God, whether it is our fault or not.
- Submit to it, persevere through it, make the best of it, and wait for God to deliver.
- If we have sinned, we must confess it and forsake it so we might have God’s mercy and grace (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
- Trust the LORD; he is faithful, sovereign, and he will accomplish all he sets out to do.
- If the LORD is our God, he is our deliverer. Let’s look to him and trust him in all of life’s challenges.
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