Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 12-15 NIV; Ch. 16 NLV

Podcast Introduction

This is Prophecy Friday, and we’ll read Jeremiah 12-16. I’ll I’m calling this episode ˆGod Can Take It.”

Comments on Jeremiah 15

Have you ever done something that you know must have disappointed the Lord? Have you ever gotten angry at God and cried out, “It just isn’t fair! YOU aren’t fair, God!” 

How do you think God reacts to us when we do that?

Here in chapter 15, Jeremiah was complaining about how he had been mistreated by the people. They didn’t like his message, and they took it out on him. And Jeremiah said, in essence, “Hey God. I have served you and done what you said. I have loved you and I have loved your Word. I’ve lived right and kept my nose clean. So why am I going through all this junk? Why is my pain without end? You, God, have misled me! I cannot rely on you!”

How’s that for a tantrum? Have you ever thrown a tantrum like that at God? 

So let’s look at God’s response. 

Look at chapter 15, verses 19-21. God says, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord. “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”

Notice that God doesn’t respond in kind. He doesn’t respond with frustration or anger. He just says, “Jeremiah, if you apologize for this little episode, we’re good. I’ll keep using you as my spokesman, and I guarantee that no harm will come to you because I will save you from the wicked.”

So God can take it when we have a lapse in faith and blow up at Him. He knows how it feels to be human, and how our emotions can get the best of us sometimes. Remember, He is our loving, perfect Father. He doesn’t hold grudges, but He does expect a certain amount of respect and reverence when we come to our senses.

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Transcript

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Transcript corrected by Sister Denise

Jeremiah 12-16: God Can Take It (LSOYB S13E104)

[TEASER – 0:00]
Why am I going through all this junk?

[INTRO S13E104 – 0:10]
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring One Year Bible, formerly the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible in a year. And this is Prophecy Friday. We’ll read Jeremiah 12 through 16. I’m calling the episode “God Can Take It.”

Before we read, Let’s pray.

Our heavenly Father, we are so thankful for your Word. And we thank you that you reveal your character to us through your Word. I pray that as we read today, you would open our eyes, open our minds and teach us. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

All right, Beloved, are you ready? Let’s go.

[JEREMIAH 12 (NIV) – 0:56]
Jeremiah, chapter 12.

(1) You are always righteous, Lord,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak to you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
(2) You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
(3) Yet you know me, Lord;
you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
(4) How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”

(5) “If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
(6) Your relatives, members of your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.

(7) “I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.
(8) My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.
(9) Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
(10) Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.
(11) It will be made a wasteland,
parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.
(12) Over the barren heights of the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
from one end of the land to the other;
no one will be safe.
(13) They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”

(14) 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. (15) But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. (16) And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. (17) But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.

[JEREMIAH 13 (NIV) – 3:44]
Jeremiah, chapter 13.

(1) This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” (2) So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

(3) Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: (4) “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” (5) So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

(6) Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” (7) So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

(8) Then the word of the Lord came to me: (9) “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. (10) These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! (11) 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.’

(12) “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ (13) then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. (14) I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

(15) Hear and pay attention,
do not be arrogant,
for the Lord has spoken.
(16) Give glory to the Lord your God
before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the darkening hills.
You hope for light,
but he will turn it to utter darkness
and change it to deep gloom.
(17) If you do not listen,
I will weep in secret
because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
overflowing with tears,
because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

(18) Say to the king and to the queen mother,
“Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns
will fall from your heads.”
(19) The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah will be carried into exile,
carried completely away.

(20) Look up and see
those who are coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,
the sheep of which you boasted?
(21) What will you say when the Lord sets over you
those you cultivated as your special allies?
Will not pain grip you
like that of a woman in labor?
(22) And if you ask yourself,
“Why has this happened to me?”—
it is because of your many sins
that your skirts have been torn off
and your body mistreated.
(23) Can an Ethiopian change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.

(24) “I will scatter you like chaff
driven by the desert wind.
(25) This is your lot,
the portion I have decreed for you,”
declares the Lord,
“because you have forgotten me
and trusted in false gods.
(26) I will pull up your skirts over your face
that your shame may be seen—
(27) your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your shameless prostitution!
I have seen your detestable acts
on the hills and in the fields.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
How long will you be unclean?”

[JEREMIAH 14 (NIV) – 7:24]
Jeremiah, chapter 14.

(1) This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

(2) “Judah mourns,
her cities languish;
they wail for the land,
and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
(3) The nobles send their servants for water;
they go to the cisterns
but find no water.
They return with their jars unfilled;
dismayed and despairing,
they cover their heads.
(4) The ground is cracked
because there is no rain in the land;
the farmers are dismayed
and cover their heads.
(5) Even the doe in the field
deserts her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.
(6) Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights
and pant like jackals;
their eyes fail
for lack of food.”

(7) Although our sins testify against us,
do something, Lord, for the sake of your name.
For we have often rebelled;
we have sinned against you.
(8) You who are the hope of Israel,
its Savior in times of distress,
why are you like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler who stays only a night?
(9) Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
like a warrior powerless to save?
You are among us, Lord,
and we bear your name;
do not forsake us!

(10) This is what the Lord says about his people:

“They greatly love to wander;
they do not restrain their feet.
So the Lord does not accept them;
he will now remember their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.”

(11) Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. (12) Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

(13) But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ”

(14) Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. (15) Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. (16) And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.

(17) “Speak this word to them:

“‘Let my eyes overflow with tears
night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin Daughter, my people,
has suffered a grievous wound,
a crushing blow.
(18) If I go into the country,
I see those slain by the sword;
if I go into the city,
I see the ravages of famine.
Both prophet and priest
have gone to a land they know not.’”

(19) Have you rejected Judah completely?
Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
so that we cannot be healed?
We hoped for peace
but no good has come,
for a time of healing
but there is only terror.
(20) We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord,
and the guilt of our ancestors;
we have indeed sinned against you.
(21) For the sake of your name do not despise us;
do not dishonor your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us
and do not break it.
(22) 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 15 (NIV) – 11:06]
Jeremiah, chapter 15.

(1) Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! (2) And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.’

(3) “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. (4) I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

(5) “Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
(6) You have rejected me,” declares the Lord.
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back.
(7) I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
for they have not changed their ways.
(8) I will make their widows more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror.
(9) The mother of seven will grow faint
and breathe her last.
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgraced and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword
before their enemies,”
declares the Lord.

(10) Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!
I have neither lent nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses me.

(11) The Lord said,

“Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.

(12) “Can a man break iron—
iron from the north—or bronze?

(13) “Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as plunder, without charge,
because of all your sins
throughout your country.
(14) I will enslave you to your enemies
in a land you do not know,
for my anger will kindle a fire
that will burn against you.”

(15) Lord, you understand;
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
(16) When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
Lord God Almighty.
(17) I never sat in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
(18) Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails.

(19) Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
(20) I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue you and save you,”
declares the Lord.
(21) “I will save you from the hands of the wicked
and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”

[JEREMIAH 16 (NLV) – 14:32]
Jeremiah, chapter 16.

(1) The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, (2) “Do not get married or have sons or daughters in this place.” (3) For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land, and about their mothers who give birth to them, and their fathers who gave them life in this land: (4) “They will die of bad diseases. No one will cry for them or bury them. They will be as animal waste on the ground, destroyed by sword and hunger. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the earth.”

(5) For the Lord says, “Do not go into a house where the people have lost a loved one. Do not go to cry or to comfort them. For I have taken My peace, My loving-kindness and My pity from these people,” says the Lord. (6) “Both great men and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. No one will cry for them. And no one will cut himself or cut off his hair for them. (7) No one will give food to comfort those who sorrow for the dead. And no one will give them the cup of comfort to drink even for the death of their father or mother. (8) Do not go into a house where they are eating much and sit with them to eat and drink.” (9) For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “Before your eyes and in your time, I am going to bring an end to the voice of joy, the voice of happiness, the voice of the man to be married and the voice of the bride in this place.

(10) “When you tell these people all these words, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord said all these bad things will happen to us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?’ (11) Then you tell them, ‘It is because your fathers before you have turned away from Me,’ says the Lord. ‘They have followed other gods and served them and worshiped them. But they have left Me and have not kept My Law. (12) And you have sinned even more than your fathers before you. For see, each one of you is following the strong-will of his own sinful heart instead of listening to Me. (13) So I will throw you out of this land into a land which you and your fathers have not known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

(14) “So the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.’ (15) But it will be said, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had sent them.’ For I will return them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

(16) “See, I am going to send for many fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they will fish for them. After this I will send for many men who hunt. And they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes in the rocks. (17) For I see all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their sin is not hidden from My eyes. (18) And I will pay them back twice as much for their wrong-doing and their sin, because they have made My land unclean. They have filled My land with the bodies of their hated false gods and with sinful things offered to them.”

(19) O Lord, my strength and my strong-place, my safe place in the day of trouble, nations will come to You from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have received nothing but lies, only things which have no worth and do not help them.” (20) Can man make his own gods? What man makes is not gods!

(21) “So I am going to make them know. This time I will make them know My power and My strength. And they will know that My name is the Lord.”

[COMMENTARY – 18:01]
Beloved, have you ever done something that you know must have disappointed the Lord? Have you ever gotten angry at God and cried out, “It just isn’t fair! You aren’t fair, God!

Well, how do you think God reacts when we do that?

In chapter 15, today, Jeremiah was complaining about how he had been mistreated by people. They didn’t like his message and they took it out on him. And Jeremiah said in essence, “Hey, God, I’ve served you and done what you said. I’ve loved you and I’ve loved your word. I’ve lived right and kept my nose clean. So why am I going through all this junk? Why is my pain without end? You, God, have misled me. I can’t rely on you. Woe is me.”

So how’s that for a tantrum? Have you ever thrown a tantrum like that at God? I’ve had times where I got mad at him.

So let’s see what God’s response to Jeremiah was.

In chapter 15, verses 9 through 21, God says, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overwhelm you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord. “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”

Notice that God did not respond to Jeremiah in kind. He didn’t respond with frustration or anger. He just says “Jeremiah, if you apologize for this little episode, we’re good. I’ll keep using you as my spokesman, and I guarantee that no harm will come to you because I will save you from the wicked.”

So God can take it when we have a lapse in faith and blow up at him. He knows how it feels to be human and how our emotions can get the best of us sometimes. Remember, he is our perfect, loving Father. He doesn’t hold grudges, but he does expect a certain amount of respect and reverence when we come to our senses.

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[OUTRO S13E104 – 21:34]
Thanks to the team: Kirsty, Denise, Michael Haner, Scott Snider, and Jason Paschall. God bless you guys. And I’m still looking for someone to raise their hand to help with the newsletter. If that’s you, please send an email to me at st***@*************ia.com.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thanks for inviting me to be a part of your day. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

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