January 24 Daily Discovery
January 24 Daily Discovery
Read Jeremiah Chapter 1
God's Call to Tear Down and Rebuild
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
~ Jer. 1:4-10
Jeremiah was prophesying before the Babylonians carried Jerusalem and Judah away in captivity. His message was largely negative and bad news.
Because a message is negative does not mean that it is inaccurate.
The word "prophet" means "mouth." A prophet was God's mouth. Prophets were all preachers that warned God's people to repent of their sins in order to avoid God's judgment.
God 's Choice
God is Omniscient. He knows everything. God is eternal. He has neither beginning nor end. God dwells in the eternal present. Consider what God told Moses, the first prophet, when Moses had asked the Lord, whom shall I tell the people has sent me.
God said, "I AM."
God knew Jeremiah BEFORE he was formed by God in his mother's womb. God knew Jeremiah before he was born.
God also sanctified Jeremiah before he was born. God also ORDAINED Jeremiah for the job He had created him for before his birth.
God told these things to Jeremiah, I believe, to encourage him. Jeremiah was not going to have an easy job. The majority of his hearers would not listen to him.
He was going to be beaten and put in stocks (Jer. 20:1-2), threatened with death (Jer. 26:11), thrown into a muddy well and left for dead (Jer. 38:6), called a liar - a false prophet (Jer. 43:2).
God knew Jeremiah's life from before its beginning to its end.
God knows all of this about you as well.
Heed His call upon your life.
God's Charge
Jeremiah was a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah, primarily. But called him to preach to all the nations and kingdoms.
When God's preachers preach a message to any nation, warning them to repent of their sins, those messages apply to other nations as well.
God is the Great God of every nation.
Jeremiah prophesied against the Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, Arabians, Persians, and Babylonians.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
~ Jer. 1:6-10
Jeremiah the Demolitionist
Things needed to be busted up. So, God's first charge to Jeremiah was for him to be a destroyer. Sometimes you've got to demolish an existing structure before you can renovate something new.
Jeremiah's Demolition Checklist
- Uproot
- Pull down
- Destroy
- Throw down
Jeremiah the Builder
There is something better coming. God will judge Jerusalem an Judah, but he will also restore it.
Jeremiah's Restoration Checklist
- Build
-
Plant
God's Champion
16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.
~ Jer. 1:16-19
God was giving Jeremiah a tough job. God was making Jeremiah a tough man. Jeremiah has been called "the weeping prophet" because he wept over Judah's rebellion and refusal to repent.
He was not weeping because he was feeling sorry for himself. (See Jer: 14.17; 31:16) He is also the prophet and writer of the book of Lamentations, also called "the Lamentations of Jeremiah."
Whenever God calls us to do anything, He gives us not only the charge, but the ability to fulfill the charge. God made Jeremiah like a defensed city with iron pillars, and brass walls.
He made Jeremiah to be AGAINST the kings and princes of Judah, the priests and the people.
God told him, "they are going to fight against you" but I AM WITH YOU and they will not prevail. God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him!
Earlier in the chapter, He told Jeremiah,
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
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Continue Your Search
In this chapter, do you see any: Commands to Obey, Warnings to Heed, Promises to Claim, Examples to Follow, Vices to Avoid, Praises to Emulate, Prayers to Use, Principles by which to Live, Questions to Ask or Actions to Take?
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