Jeremiah 4

By Josh Reighley on June 16, 2007 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Jeremiah 4 starts out with another invitation for Israel to turn it's heart back to God.

Verses 3-4:

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

"Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds."

I see that as a challenge for myself as well. Where am I sowing among the thorns? What ground have I left fallow? We tend to invest a lot of effort into gaining stuff that God already promises to provide for us. When we do this, we are practicing a form of idolatry. We are seeking to gain something that God can only give from something that is not God. We spend less time investing in our relationship with Him, and thus are violating the first commandment "You shall have no other gods before me." Rather than sowing the field that God blesses, we sow fields that god has not blessed. When we plant among thorns, we get lust instead of love, wealth instead of security, pride instead of peace. It takes great faith to plant in the place of blessing because the place of blessing is also a place of humility and dependence.

Verse 9 is also quite interesting:

"In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."

As the chapter wraps up with some prophetic images of the Exile of God's people. in verse 27 God says: "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end" Sometimes God takes us to rock bottom. He brings us to our knees. He brings us to dependence. Or pain is not the end, it is actually a new beginning. He strips away all of the thorny land we have grown so fond of, and leaves us only with the fallow ground that is our relationship with him to sow on.

Comments

Jeremiah 4 starts out with another invitation for Israel to turn it's heart back to God. Verses 3-4:

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds."

"In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."

When the tests come, we often fail not in the areas where we are weak, but in the areas where we feel strong. Prophets should not be astounded, Priests should not be appalled, and officials should not lack courage. Many of God's men failed in unexpected ways. Peter, one of Jesus most faithful prophets denied him. David was a man of great self control, but he lost control. Moses was a man humbly dependent on God, but he took some of God's glory. When our righteousness becomes self righteousness, it fails under pressure. As the chapter wraps up with some prophetic images of the Exile of God's people. in verse 27 God says: "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end" Sometimes God takes us to rock bottom. He brings us to our knees. He brings us to dependence. Or pain is not the end, it is actually a new beginning. He strips away all of the thorny land we have grown so fond of, and leaves us only with the fallow ground that is our relationship with him to sow on.