Month: January 2011

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 14 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this. [Jeremiah 14:22] The land is going through a crisis of famine and drought,…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 13 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’ [Jeremiah 13:11] If I were going to jump from…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 12 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: This is what the LORD says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. [Jeremiah 12:14] Jeremiah is wondering why God is allowing the godless nations to punish…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 11 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken. [Jeremiah 11:16] There are some important parallels between Jeremiah 11 and Mark 11. In Jeremiah 11, the prophet curses the olive tree, and…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 10 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered. [Jeremiah 10:21] An idol is more than a golden statue, it is any reality or experience that people put their confidence in, other than God Himself. These shepherds (leaders) are called…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 9 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth,…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 8 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? [Jeremiah 8:22] There is an old spiritual that says, ‘there is a balm in Gilead’. Jeremiah is lamenting the sorry state of affairs in the land, God’s healing, helping power…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 7 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? [Jeremiah 7:19] This chapter highlights WHY God is angry: they still think God loves and protects them because of their precious temple, but they follow the immoral and violent ways of idol…

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 6 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ [Jeremiah 6:16] Poor Jeremiah, he sees what is coming (judgment through brutal enemy invasion) and…