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Quiet Time in Jeremiah 16

Updated: Mar 16, 2022



Jeremiah 16 (HCSB)


No Marriage for Jeremiah

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For this is what the Lord says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land: 4 They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the face of the earth. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.


5 “For this is what the Lord says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. Don’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed My peace from these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“as well as My faithful love and compassion. 6 Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them. 7 Food won’t be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won’t be given him because of the loss of his father or mother. 8 You must not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink. 9 For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride.


Abandoning the Lord and His Law

10 “When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them. Indeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction. 12 You did more evil than your fathers. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me. 13 So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.


14 “However, take note! The days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.


Punishment of Exile

16 “I am about to send for many fishermen”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks, 17 for My gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight. 18 I will first repay them double for their guilt and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols.”


19 Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.”

20 Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.

21 “Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is Yahweh.”




PERSONAL JOURNAL:

SIN (verses 18, 20): In these two verses, You speak to us about worshipping false idols. Forgive me, Father, for I often put many things above You in this life—money, selfish desires, sex, other people, and so much more throughout my life. Forgive me for often not placing You at the top of my focus, desires, and worship. Help me to remember that You are the most high in my life and that nothing in this life comes even close to the blessings You offer, Father. Thank You for always showing me grace in my faith walk, even though I am undeserving. Thank You for always being there for me even though I often neglect You on my day-to-day walk in this life.

PROMISE (verses 10-11): You promise us, Father, that there are repercussions to our unfaithfulness. Just as a parent must often discipline their children in this life, You too must discipline us at times for our blatant disrespect towards You. Thank You for caring enough about me to lovingly discipline me in a way that hopefully corrects my ways, Father. Thank You for being such a loving Father that You would do anything for us, even if it pains You to do so. Thank You for sacrificing Your one and only Son for us so that our mistakes do not condemn us from Your presence in eternity anymore, Father.

ATTITUDE (verse 19): Help me to change my self-righteous attitude where I often think I can do this life on my own without You, Father. Here Jeremiah says You are his strength, stronghold, and refuge in his time of distress. Help me to embrace this amazing attitude all the time, Father, so that anytime I’m in distress I default to going to You for Your strength, refuge, and good counsel instead of constantly trying to get through it on my own. Remind me that You are there for me through ALL things, no matter if they’re my fault or the fault of others around me. Thank You for the refuge You’ve always provided to me, Father, in those times I have gone straight to You through my low moments in this life.

COMMAND (verses 11-12): You tell us that we should not abandon You nor Your instruction. That we should ensure we are obeying You through all things, instead of living in the stubbornness of our evil hearts. Help me to align with this command, Father, so that I not only know Your instructions, but also take action on those instructions daily. Help Your ways be my default in this life so that I live in a way that is pleasing to You from now on. Help me to dig into Your word so much that my understanding of Your word surpasses and overcomes any evil ways I have adopted over my life of sin.

EXAMPLE (verses 19-21): Once again, Jeremiah gives us a great example of how we are to live this life. Through the painful knowledge of what is about to happen to the many people surrounding him, he says that You are his strength, stronghold, and refuge in his time of distress. He begins to pray for all of those broken people that are about to feel Your wrath for them to turn to You properly and worship You instead of the false idols they learned to pray to from their fathers. Help me to be more like Jeremiah in my time of distress, but especially towards the sinners and broken ones of this world so that I may pray for them as often or maybe even more often than I even pray for my own family. Remind me that through prayer to You, all things are possible and can be granted if those prayers are aligned with Your will. Thank You for Your faithfulness, refuge, and availability, Father.

*DAILY NOTE: For so long and so often through this life, but especially since coming to faith, I have lived in a way of dependence on my own strength and will for my life. I have leaned on myself more than You by far, Father. I am sorry for this. You give me so many examples in this Scripture of how we are to truly be living and I have failed at all of them for so long. Help me to be more faithful to You, but also more reliant and understanding of Your word, Your truths, Your counsel, and Your instructions towards me for my life. Help me to be a better follower and to rebound quickly anytime I fail in this life, Father.


*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.

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