Rise Above the Tide - Jeremiah 11 - 15

For the introduction I quote the author of the lesson in the Life Way Commentary for summer 2011. “We all have days of conflict, weakness, sadness, grief, regret, or confusion. Sometimes such days of distress and discouragement stretch into months, even years. How do we relate to God during those stormy times? Does knowing God help us? Do our difficulties motivate us to question God? During such times, does he have anything to say to us?” For those of us with experiences like these, Jeremiah wrote about the way God dealt with the wayward people of Judah; and I believe it is a warning to Americans today, even those of us who live in Heber Springs or have friends or relatives here.

The prophet, Jeremiah was not different, he had his bad days and they stretched into at least forty years. Allow me to digress momentarily and remind everyone that our ministers [or yours, wherever you worship] fits this mold also. Our pastors of the Word and ministers of song, youth and children, and even Bible study teachers are no different. They seek and need the encouragement from those Christians that are strong in the Lord, and they deserve their support. Christians are obligated to lift their leaders up in prayer often; and we should support them in our conversations with others. Even when you are displeased with their work, there is never an excuse for open criticism that may cause them even more problems. If you are unhappy, tell them personally, and don’t gossip about it to others. When or if you feel a change is needed—just remember that the next one you call may have more problems than the one you have. An open stand against God’s chosen workers is a dangerous position to be in. Sincere prayer may help most.

I do not know your views regarding the study of history, but, to me, the study of biblical history is not only exciting but essential in the life of a Christian. When younger, I preferred the study of the New Testament to the Old one, but after extended study of God’s word, I find that knowledge of the early history of God’s people is paramount and essential to the understanding of the New Covenant established by the blood of Jesus Christ.

We can learn that God is real, in charge and unchanging through the study of history. He has always allowed people the freedom to make choices [and to experience the consequences of those choices] and this is recorded as biblical history. We can and should learn from the mistakes made by others. We can know God’s plan for his people, established in the beginning, and unchanging, and we can learn that He is moving forward to accomplish His goal; and we learn that He uses people like you and me to accomplish his goal of redeeming the lost.

We have always heard it said that history repeats itself; and that is true in the history of man; but this is not so in the history of God. People change, and repeat, and try for the new, then change again; but not so with God. He is the same yesterday today and tomorrow. Man’s history repeats; but the history of God and his plan for man is headed to a destination, leading history to a final conclusion which is the great judgment conducted by His Son, Jesus Christ—and it predicts and provides us with the hope of our salvation.

Since I write lessons weekly, there is fear that some statements and suggestions will sound repetitious. One statement that seems so important is that Christ-like obedience is just as important for the Christian as repentance is to the non-believer. Do you try daily to obey the Word of the Lord? In this lesson, 11: 1-17, you will find that the people of Judah forgot the importance of obedience to their own determent. They falsely presumed that God would keep His part of the covenant agreement, even when they were unfaithful. They either did not know or forgot that a covenant is an agreement between two or more people and that both parties must keep their end of the bargain. God made thousands of promises to us and He will keep each one; however in every case we have an obligation to keep. Some great examples are: “I will heal your land—but—you must first repent of your sins, humble yourself, and make your request in prayer.” “I will save you from your sins—but—you first must repent of your sins and call Me by My name to come and live in your heart.” “Your children will be saved—but—you must bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” And then there is the one that applies heavily in Judah’s case; “I will be your God—but—you shall have no other gods before Me.”

The Hebrew word [shama’] appears six times in the first eight verses. This word [shama’] translated into English can mean either “listen” and/or “obey” God sent Jeremiah to Judah and they were admonished to “listen” to the warnings regarding their disobedience, and in this case they were also told that they must “obey” God or suffer annihilation. Note: In this case God did not kill and destroy these people and their country but he allowed a heathen nation to conquer and take them captive. God will not kill Americans! But if you will only listen and look you can see that he is allowing Satin to send floods, tornadoes and hurricanes; even a terrorist group to destroy the twin towers, pentagon and probably the White House or Capitol which was saved by the heroes that destroyed the plane in an open field in the mid-west. Jeremiah’s warning applies to us too.

You have probably said to one of your children—“listen, did your hear me? Or, you have heard others ask the question. Was the question asked because the child had a hearing problem? No. The question was asked because the child was disobeying a command. This is exactly what was happening in Judah when Jeremiah told the people six times to listen to his warning and obey what God was telling them to do. The prophet was obedient to God in relaying this message and giving them the possibility of two results that could come. Disobedience would result in curses that would be allowed by God; and obedience would bring blessings [including a personal relationship with God] and a fertile land [see 11: 4-5].

In verses 6-8, Jeremiah reminded the people in Jerusalem and Judah that they had examples in history that they could look back on and see what happens when disobedience prevails. God said that ever since He brought their forefathers out of bondage in Egypt he had continually warned the people regarding the different results that come from obedience and disobedience. They had the history of their nation that they could have used as a warning—just as we have an even more complete history of the subject. They did not listen/obey. Will America listen and obey? A better question and even more personal—are you listening to the warnings you are receiving? If not, would you like to know why you don’t? Find the answer in verse eight. You are stubborn and you have an evil heart. Harsh? God said it.

On any given week-end this summer you can find many more people on the beaches, lakes, parks, at games, in gambling houses, and in bed asleep at home than you can find in the house of God. In verses 9-10 you can see that God calls this a refusal to obey his words and following other gods to worship them. His promise for this follows in 11-14, where He says that ‘I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to me but I will not hear.” I have told you readers that God has a limit—that his spirit will not always strive with men, and we do not know in advance when He will say enough. It happened to Judah [see 14] He told the prophet not to pray for Judah—“For I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.”

Time and space is so limited. God’s Word is so great and expansive that at one time the writer said that if it all was written down there would not be enough books to hold it. Not finished, and incomplete I must close this session by simply reminding you one more time that it is imperative for all of us to: “RISE ABOVE THE TIDE” AND LEARN TO OBEY THE LORD. OR GET PREPARED TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. Please remember that history repeats itself where sinful people are concerned; but the history of God is not repetitive but always the same and continuous, and will be until his goal has been reached…known as the end of the age, when Christ returns to claim His own.