Lying Words: Jeremiah 7-10 (4)

Pray Psalm 13.1, 2.
How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Sing Psalm 13.1, 2.
(Melita: Eternal Father, Strong to Save)
How long, O Lord, O Lord, how long will You forget me and my song?
How long will You conceal Your face and keep from me Your precious grace?
How long must I my soul consult? When shall my weary heart exult?

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 8.18-9.11.

Prepare.
1. What’s the cause of Jeremiah’s sorrow?

2. How did the Lord respond to him?

Meditate.
We should not think of the prophets as callous, arrogant, or merely indignant. They loved God, and they loved His people. We see this in these verses, as Jeremiah is broken-hearted at the coming judgment of the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

He can fairly hear their cries from a distant land, crying out to return to their home (v. 19). No salvation is at hand, and no physician can heal their wounds (vv. 20-22). Their sorrow and suffering are inescapable.

Jeremiah longs for an ocean of tears to weep for his people (Jer. 19.1), for those who are slain, homeless, weary, and deep in sin (19.2). He wishes he could do something to shelter them from the Lord’s judgment (v. 2), but he is already doing all he can for this adulterous and treacherous nation. God has to remind the prophet of why this is happening: The people have made their own sinful bed, and now they’re having to lie in it (18.19b; 19.3-6, 11). Should He just stand by and do nothing to try to shake His people free from their sinful ways (19.7-9)? No, He must allow them to suffer the consequences of their foolish choices. They won’t even be able to trust their closest friends (vv. 4, 5), and they will try to lie their way out of everything (vv. 5, 6).

Yes, Jeremiah knows this is the case (19.10); yet he can’t not weep for them. Like Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 22.37, 38), and like we should weep for the lost people and wandering believers in our Personal Mission Field.

Reflect.
1. What is your attitude toward the lost people in your Personal Mission Field? How can you bring your attitude more into line with Jeremiah’s?

2. Why does God allow us to suffer trials and difficulties? When we find ourselves in the midst of a trial, what should we do?

3. Jeremiah’s weeping for the people of God takes the form of a dialog with God. What does this suggest to us?

What should we do? Let us allow a spring of tears to flow every day, day and night. Let us, too, say with the weeping Jeremiah, the great prophet, “Who will give some water to my head, and a spring of tears to my eyes? I would weep for my sins day and night.” Let us first of all confess our sins before this.… which is full of terror and trembling tears. Let us invoke the goodness and mercy of our God, while we are in this exile of tears, before death overtakes us. Horsiesi (305-390), Instructions 1.3

Cleanse me of my sin, Lord, and use me today to…

Pray Psalm 13.3-6.
Weep for your sins, and for the sins of God’s people everywhere. Call on the Lord for cleansing and revival, and renew your trust and confidence in Him.

Sing Psalm 13.3-6.
Psalm 13.3-6 (Melita: Eternal Father, Strong to Save)
Exalt not, Lord, my enemy; Lord, hear my prayer and answer me!
Give light unto my weary eyes; let not death claim me for its prize.
Let not my foe rejoice to say that I have fallen in the way.

Yet I have trusted, Lord, in You; Your lovingkindness sees me through.
My heart breaks forth in happy voice; in Your salvation I rejoice!
Thus I will sing triumphantly: “My God has dealt full well with me!”

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).