Before I read.... my thoughts on Jeremiah!

First of all, I love my study bible, I have learned so much and have a better grasp of the events taking place before I even begin reading.
I’m excited to learn more about Jeremiah. I can already relate to him in some ways. I feel like God has given me a tender heart. I care a lot about people and I want so badly for people to find Jesus. There are so many people who are lost and are blinded by their sin. My heart breaks so easily for these people. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet, and because of his “tender heartedness” I feel like Jeremiah and I would have been tight friends!
Next I love the fact that God called him to be a prophet and in the end many may have looked at his journey as a failure but to god he was successful- he was obedient to God and in return God kept His promise and guided Jeremiah through and in the end Jeremiah will receive his reward for his faithfulness in completing God’s will.
I am also excited about the different themes Jeremiah talks about. Again, I LOVE this study bible! It lays out every theme before you even begin to read!

Here are my thoughts on the different themes Jeremiah presents and how I already have been learning about these different topics in my own life:

1. Sin: Jeremiah warns the people to repent because God’s judgment is coming. In my life I want to look deeper and try to see where my heart may be calloused. I want to truly “repent,” of my sins- or as my youth pastor says- “shoov!” That is the Hebrew word for repent, saying you will turn from your old ways and RUN into the COMPLETE OPPOSITE DIRECTION- and RUN towards GOD! I don’t want to settle for half measures in removing sin- I must get rid of it all together.

2. Punishment: Obviously the book of Jeremiah talks a lot about punishment. It explains the destruction of Jerusalem because the people didn’t repent. In my life I want to figure out where I need some work. From the very beginning of time humans have been skilled in the art of “pointing their fingers”- when confronted by God in the Garden of Eden, Adam blamed Eve for making him sin and eat the forbidden fruit. So many times I get in the habit of blaming others, and I’m not going to lie, I can be really good at it too. When it comes to sin and punishment, un- confessed sin brings God’s full punishment. I am accountable to God before anyone else. How naive of Adam to think that God didn’t know whose fault it really was. How naive can I be to think that I can trick God by pointing my finger? In the end I am accountable to GOD before anyone else; therefore I must confess my sins to Him, and answer to Him, for how I live.

3. God is Lord of all: The book of Jeremiah displays this all full well. I’ve been learning a lot lately in my life this very theme. I like how my study bible puts it: “God is the righteous creator. He is accountable to no one but himself. He wisely and lovingly directs all creation to fulfill his plans, and he brings events to pass according to his timetable. He is Lord over the entire world.” In my life I have seen and continue to see how the world does not evolve around ME- or even the human race. No. I revolve, the human race revolves, the world revolves… around GOD. God is God. He is in control- He is seated on the throne, everything happens under his command. His hand is over all things. We are His- submitting to His plans in my life, sometimes seems like I am a slave to this almighty master- but by surrendering and submitting to God, who is LORD of all, I end up drawing closer to Him and a relationship is formed between the Father and ME, HIS CREATION!

4. New Hearts: Jeremiah predicts a new future after the destruction has passes. In my life I know God is still transforming my heart. His love can cancel out my sin. I know and I have the assurance and I hold onto hope- that He can give me a new heart, a fresh start, a new beginning; the stain will be gone, dressed in a pure white wedding dress. I must continue to love God, trust Christ to save me, repent of my sins, and say “I DO,” to His eternal proposal to commit as His wife! In Christ- I am a new creation, God can restore me!

5. Faithful Service: Again Jeremiah was an amazing servant of God. He was faithful for 40 years- He was rejected, ignored, persecuted, and was seen as a failure. In my life I need to really work on just trusting God. I worry too much about what others think God’s approval alone should be the standard for service. Even if it means suffering, I have to go through and do God’s work!

Those are 5 themes Jeremiah touches on, those are some of my thoughts so far, but I’m excited to dig in and read more about these themes. My prayer in reading Jeremiah, is that through each chapter 1 will increase my knowledge and better understand how high, how wide, how deep the love of God is!