Jeremiah 9 (HCSB)
1 If my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.
2 If only I had a traveler’s lodging place in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a solemn assembly of treacherous people.
3 They bent their tongues like their bows; lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Imminent Ruin and Exile
4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend. Don’t trust any brother, for every brother will certainly deceive, and every friend spread slander.
5 Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out doing wrong.
6 You live in a world of deception. In their deception they refuse to know Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:
I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of My dear people?
8 Their tongues are deadly arrows—they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peaceably with his friend, but inwardly he sets up an ambush.
9 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?
10 I will raise weeping and a lament over the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness grazing land, for they have been so scorched that no one passes through. The sound of cattle is no longer heard. From the birds of the sky to the animals, everything has fled—they have gone away.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals’ den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.
12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?
13 The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned My instruction that I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it. 14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and followed after the Baals as their fathers taught them.” 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink. 16 I will scatter them among the nations that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”
Mourning over Judah
17 This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women.
18 Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids soaked with weeping.
19 For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are. We are greatly ashamed, for we have abandoned the land; our dwellings have been torn down.
20 Now hear the word of the Lord, you women. Pay attention to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a lament and one another a dirge,
21 for Death has climbed through our windows; it has entered our fortresses, cutting off children from the streets, young men from the squares.
22 Speak as follows:
This is what the Lord says:
Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field, like newly cut grain after the reaper with no one to gather it.
Boast in the Lord
23 This is what the Lord says:
The wise man must not boast in his wisdom; the strong man must not boast in his strength; the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.
24 But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me—that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
25 “The days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:
26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 8): Father, in this faith walk I have often given into the negative thought life. In this verse You show me exactly what I’ve been doing. Please forgive me for this negative thought life, Father. Forgive me for often saying one thing externally to those around me, especially those I love, but thinking something very different. Help me to be better at matching my words to my thoughts, Father. Help me to no longer live with this negative thought life that I’ve been plagued with for most of my life.
PROMISE (verses 4-6): You assure us, Father, that we live in a world of deception. You promise us that we must always be on guard in this world as the deception of the world is an easy pit to fall into. Help me to remember this promise, Father, so that I keep my guards up in this life while at the same time pouring out Your joy and compassion to those around me. Help me to remember always that the world I live in during this life is broken and full of deceit, but with You as my focus all things will work out for Your glory.
ATTITUDE (verses 8, 14): These two verses pretty much give a rough outline of what my core issues have been in this faith walk with You for so long, Father. I have had a negative thought life and a stubborn heart towards Your will for my life. Help me to change this attitude, Father, so that I am filled with Your joy, Your happiness, and Your positive thoughts of myself and others. Help me to change my stubborn heart towards Your will for my life, Father. Help my daily attitude align with what You expect of me, Father.
COMMAND (verses 13-14): Such a powerful command You give us in these verses, Father. Even though the commands are extremely simple in nature, I still find it rather difficult for me to follow fully. You tell us not to abandon Your instructions; You tell us to obey Your voice and walk according to Your instructions; You tell us to not have a stubborn heart. The root of these commands is simply to follow You fully. Help me to follow these commands, Father, so that my heart is pure and filled with all that You have to offer; so that I never abandon Your instructions again; so that I always walk according to those instructions; so that I no longer live in my own stubbornness. Thank You for keeping Your commands simple for people like me, Father, so that I can understand them and hopefully put them into action in this life.
EXAMPLE (verses 23-24): This set is verses is such a powerful example of how we are to live this life, Father. You tell us not to boast in anything that is of our own. Instead, You tell us to boast in You in this way: “Yahweh, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things.” Help me to remember to live my life in a way that always boasts You and not myself, Father. Help me to remember this example so that You are the focus of all of my bragging and talk. Help me to remember that everything good I have and am able to do in this life is not of my own, but is a blessing from You, Father. Thank You for this clarifying example of how I am to walk in this life, Father.
*DAILY NOTE: It’s really easy to give into the negative, self-condemning through life that I’ve struggled with for so long. The enemy likes to put whispers in our head that eventually lead to us thinking selfish thoughts and thoughts that go against Your will for us. Help me to be better at deciphering these moments in my mind as well as keep better protections up on my thought life, so that I do not falter in this way again, Father. If my mind is not well and inline with Your ways, I easily falter in the things I do in this life; I easily fall into selfishness, self-righteousness, pride, anger, irritability, and so much more negativity. Thank You for always being a rock for my thought life, even though I often remove myself from the rock and path You provide to me.
*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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