Jeremiah 12

Our chapter opens with Jeremiah’s wrestling.  Why? He’s wondering why, when God is Sovereign has power over all creation and is just, do the wicked continue to get away with so much?  Jeremiah is still troubled over the conspiracy against God and himself. He expects God to vindicate him. Oh now here’s a big one! Sometimes I want that vindication more than I want God. And I’ve not only seen that in myself, I’ve seen it in others too. Ever held God hostage until He decided to vindicate you? Ever not done your daily devotionals because of your disappointment? Or given up your Christianity because nobody else has to do right? Let’s see, wasn’t it the disciples who asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven and consume the Samaritans for not receiving Him? -Luke 9:54. I hope you’ve learned as I have that no matter what you do, Jesus WILL NOT come down off of that cross! Human nature dies hard so Jesus nailed it there. God does and will vindicate his servants it’s just not always in the way we think. Here’s one big lesson we learn from the book of Jeremiah and a couple of questions too. Did he ever see the results of his ministry bear fruit for God? Did he continue to be faithful to God even though is expectations for God were not met in the way he wanted?

Jeremiah sets a great example for us here, he is not afraid to question God in his wrestling and what a faith saving thing that can be!  If we are wrestling over something we should realize that our heart has some underlying question about God. If we can figure that out, we can tell Him what we’re feeling and thinking and ask Him to clear up the conflict for us. He is oh so willing to do that! I’ve never asked a question yet that Scripture hasn’t answered. So how does God answer Jeremiah’s question?   

Well, He says, to coin an old phrase,” If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.” In other words God is telling Jeremiah I need to allow this to happen in your life because I have provided the power (grace) for you to deal with it and I desperately need you to grab a hold of that so you can endure bigger rejection, be better than your surroundings and love bigger in the things to come. I want you to understand Me more at a heart level, believe me more at a heart level and be more like Me. We live in a sinful world with sinful people and God who is love, does not control. Yes He intervenes in the affairs of the earth for the sake of His children, but He does not control. Positive responses to God have to be a product of free will and God is interested in the salvation of all mankind. His response to rebellion is patience and patience often involves suffering on God’s part.

It’s not just about me, it’s not just about you, it’s about God and His love for His creation, and if I’m going to be a part of Him I’m going to have to give my heart over to loving Him no matter what I go through, and then I will love what He loves. The greatest proof of loving God unfolds in Jeremiah in the chapters to come. He’s there for God because he’s surrendering his false expectations of God as they surface and with them falls by the wayside love of self.

Only Love Remains by JJ Heller on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3BDYBGhSgI

  12:1   Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of [thy] judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they happy that deal very treacherously? 

  12:2   Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou [art] near in their mouth, and far from their reins. 

  12:3   But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 

  12:4   How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end. 

  12:5   If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and [if] in the land of peace, [wherein] thou trustedst, [they wearied thee], then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? 

  12:6   For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee. 

  12:7   I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 

  12:8   Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it. 

  12:9   Mine heritage [is] unto me [as] a speckled bird, the birds round about [are] against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. 

  12:10   Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 

  12:11   They have made it desolate, [and being] desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth [it] to heart. 

  12:12   The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the [one] end of the land even to the [other] end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. 

  12:13   They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, [but] shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 

  12:14   Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 

  12:15   And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 

  12:16   And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people. 

  12:17   But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.