Hope in Dark Times: Jeremiah #15.1

Dark Times will Come: What will get us through? Inspired by Jeremiah 23-24

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This post is inspired by Jeremiah 23-24, as always I encourage you to open your Bibles and read the chapters for yourself, I am sure this will be of great benefit for your own walk with The Lord.

BIG WORDS & BIG LIES

Let’s picture a country boy from a simple farming town, arriving in New York for the first time. This gives us an idea of Jeremiah, who came from a small village called Anathoth. God called him to Jerusalem, and what he saw in The City of David was Lying, cheating, injustice … He tried buying food at the market and was cheated of his change by dishonest scales. He watched as foreigners were charged triple for a nights stay in the local inn.

As a prophet, he hoped to find honesty and godliness with other men who were called the same. But he found men who had turned Prophecy into a paid profession, who spoke words of peace and comfort but not the words of God, who dreamed ordinary dreams and turned them into divine messages, who were easily bribed and influenced by the rich and powerful, who committed adultery without even their cheeks flushing with shame.

HOPE IN THE HARDSHIP

The words that struck me as I read and prayed upon these chapters was: HOPE from God versus OPTIMISM from man.

One is honest, and wants to bring us through the hardships with hearts unsullied, and pure. The other is a lie, telling us “all will be OK” and things will “turn out fine in the end”.

One brings us closer to God, who has a true hope for those who remain faithful to Him. The other draws us away from God, to rely on ourselves and engage with others who do the same.

Jeremiah spoke the words of God, putting ordinary dreams and lies in their place. Asking if anyone speaking actually heard from GOD, and concluding that they their words were their own invention?

A REFLECTION FOR TODAY

In a world that is spiritually polluted, how much we need a voice like Jeremiah. How much we need to discern what is from God and what is not.

A final note to close, I think their is a trend in Christianity that promises the believer a life without tribulation. It says that you will somehow escape the disasters.

This is what the false prophets were saying in Jeremiah’s day, yet in the end Babylon came and the City of Jerusalem was burned to the ground. The people killed and taken into exile.

Jeremiah gave hope to the people to go through these times, but he did not say “peace” when there was not peace. He did not say “all will be fine”, he was honest. I believe those who listened to His words were those who were able to stand through the trials of Babylon, and keep God’s vision in a time of spiritual pollution, not unlike today.

May we be those people.

Thanks for reading.

May the Lord bless you

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