Jeremiah Called: Jeremiah 1-3 (7)

Pray Psalm 146.1, 2, 10.
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
The LORD shall reign forever—
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Sing Psalm 146.1, 2, 10
(Hallelujah! What a Savior!: Man of Sorrows)
Praise the Lord, my soul, give praise! While I live, His Name I’ll raise!
And exalt Him all my days –God forever reigns in Zion!

Review Jeremiah chapters 1-3; meditate on Jeremiah 1.9, 10.

Prepare.
1. To what did God call Jeremiah? What form did his ministry take?

2. How would you summarize the message of Jeremiah, as we have seen it thus far?

Meditate.
Having received his calling from the Lord, Jeremiah lost no time in getting about his work. God called him in chapter 1, and, even though he was understandably reluctant, God insisted. He set Jeremiah apart for his work and provided an overview of what He intended Jeremiah to do. His preaching would be for the tearing down of Jerusalem and all its sinful ways, and for the renewing and edifying of God’s people under a coming new covenant.

Then He sent the prophet to cry out against His people and their sins (chapters 2, 3). Jeremiah spoke with the authority of God, as though his voice were the very voice of God, which it was. The people of Judah (the southern kingdom) had turned away from Him Who saved and blessed them. They embraced the gods of pagan nations. None of those nations had abandoned their gods, false and fickle though they were. But Judah – like Israel (the northern kingdom) before her – abandoned God and took up the vain worship of false deities.

Nevertheless, God sent Jeremiah to call His people to repent and return to Him. It may be that King Josiah heard that message and, reinforced by what he read in the Law of God, led the nation into a brief and shallow period of revival.

But judgment was coming because repentance was not real. And though Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord would be destroyed, God promised a coming day of restoration, when true shepherds would lead His people into a renewed relationship with Him, making them the envy of all the nations of the world (ch. 3).

But that day was far in the future. For now, Jeremiah would focus on calling the people to turn away from their sins, and to warning them of imminent judgment. Like him, God has appointed us to proclaim the Good News of salvation to the world; but we must wholly embrace that salvation if we are to be credible when we share it with others.

Reflect.
1. To what did the people of Judah turn when they abandoned faith in God? Why are “other gods” so appealing to those who know the one true God? What should we learn from this?

2. What is repentance? When is it needed? What must we do to come to repentance?

3. In what ways is Jeremiah’s call similar to that which God has given to each of us?

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou at this day mercifully sparest us, when yet in various ways we provoke thy displeasure, ― O grant, that we may not harden ourselves against thy chastisements, but that thy forbearance may lead us to repentance, and that also thy scourges may do us good, and that we may so truly turn to thee, that our whole life may testify that we are in our hearts changed; and may we also stimulate one another, that we may unite together in rendering obedience to thy word, and each of us strive to glorify thy name, through Christ Jesus our Lord. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Jeremiah 3.17 

Lord, show me my sin, and I will confess and repent of it, so that today I will…

Pray Psalm 146.
Pray through the truths and promises of this psalm. Claim the freedom of Jesus for your life with Him today.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 146.3-10 (Hallelujah! What a Savior!: Man of Sorrows)
Trust we not in prince or man – no salvation’s in their hand;
death shall take them, breath and plans – God forever reigns in Zion!

Blessed are they whose hope resides in the Lord, Christ at His side.
By Him heav’n and earth abide – God forever reigns in Zion!

He is faithful evermore; He gives justice to the poor,
feeds the hungry from His store – God forever reigns in Zion!

Jesus sets the pris’ner free, heals blind eyes that they may see,
lifts those burdened painfully – God forever reigns in Zion!

He the righteous loves the best; wand’rers in His grace are blessed;
needy ones in Him find rest – God forever reigns in Zion!

But the wicked who defame His eternal blessèd Name,
them He brings to ruin and shame – God forever reigns in Zion!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).