…holding on to foolishness!

I have been holding on to extreme foolishness in my life lately. Acting as though this thing I treasure is all important. Allowing it to get in the way of my God given purpose. I am ashamed of myself, especially after reading this passage by Jeremiah.   These are serious times we are living in. I need to put aside all foolishness and get busy doing what I have been called to do.    “They won’t plead the case of the orphan”,  this statement  especially stands out for me  because caring for my orphans  is what I have been neglecting while I have been concerned with someone who is not all that serious about the realities of life right now. Everything is happy go lucky straight to hell and for me it’s not going to work anymore. This  passage of scripture has changed me, has awakened me. I am applying it to myself in full measure. I have things that I love more then God that I am hereby surrendering! I need to get about the business of truly living–doing exactly what God called me to do!

Jeremiah 5

No One Is Right

 ¹ The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
       Look around and discover these things.
       Search the public squares of the city.
    If you can find one person who does honest things,
       who searches for the truth,
       I will forgive this city.
 ² Although the people say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’
       they don’t really mean it.”

 ³ Lord, don’t you look for truth in people?
    You struck the people of Judah,
       but they didn’t feel any pain.
    You crushed them,
       but they refused to learn what is right.
    They became more stubborn than a rock;
       they refused to turn back to God.
 ⁴ But I thought,
       “These are only the poor, foolish people.
    They have not learned the way of the Lord
       and what their God wants them to do.
 ⁵ So I will go to the leaders of Judah
       and talk to them.
    Surely they understand the way of the Lord
       and know what God wants them to do.”
    But even the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord;
       they had broken their ties with him.
 ⁶ So a lion from the forest will attack them.
       A wolf from the desert will kill them.
    A leopard is waiting for them near their towns.
       It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city,
    because the people of Judah have sinned greatly.
       They have wandered away from the Lord many times.

 ⁷ The Lord said, “Tell me why I should forgive you.
       Your children have left me
       and have made promises to idols that are not gods at all.
    I gave your children everything they needed,
       but they still were like an unfaithful wife to me.
       They spent much time in houses of prostitutes.
 ⁸ They are like well-fed horses filled with sexual desire;
       each one wants another man’s wife.
 ⁹ Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
       “Shouldn’t I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

 ¹⁰ “Go along and cut down Judah’s vineyards,
       but do not completely destroy them.
    Cut off all her people as if they were branches,
       because they do not belong to the Lord.
 ¹¹ The families of Israel and Judah
       have been completely unfaithful to me,” says the Lord.

 ¹² Those people have lied about the Lord
       and said, “He will not do anything to us!
    Nothing bad will happen to us!
       We will never see war or hunger!
 ¹³ The prophets are like an empty wind;
       the word of God is not in them.
       Let the bad things they say happen to them.”

 ¹⁴ So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful says:
    “The people said I would not punish them.
       So, the words I give you will be like fire,
       and these people will be like wood that it burns up.
 ¹⁵ Listen, family of Israel,” says the Lord,
       “I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you.
    It is an old nation that has lasted a long time.
       The people there speak a language you do not know;
       you cannot understand what they say.
 ¹⁶ Their arrows bring death.
       All their people are strong warriors.
 ¹⁷ They will eat your crops and your food.
       They will eat your sons and daughters.
    They will eat your flocks and herds.
       They will eat your grapes and figs.
    They will destroy with their swords
       the strong, walled cities you trust.

 ¹⁸ “Yet even then,” says the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely.¹⁹ When the people of Judah ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these terrible things to us?’ then give them this answer: ‘You have left the Lord and served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.’
 ²⁰ “Announce this message to the family of Jacob,
       and tell it to the nation of Judah:
 ²¹ Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense.
       They have eyes, but they don’t really see.
       They have ears, but they don’t really listen.
 ²² Surely you are afraid of me,” says the Lord.
       “You should shake with fear in my presence.
    I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea,
       a border the water can never go past.
    The waves may pound the beach, but they can’t win over it.
       They may roar, but they cannot go beyond it.
 ²³ But the people of Judah are stubborn and have turned against me.
       They have turned aside and gone away from me.
 ²⁴ They do not say to themselves,
       ‘We should fear the Lord our God,
    who gives us autumn and spring rains in their seasons,
       who makes sure we have the harvest at the right time.’
 ²⁵ But your evil has kept away both rain and harvest.
       Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.
 ²⁶ There are wicked men among my people.
       Like those who make nets for catching birds,
       they set their traps to catch people.
 ²⁷ Like cages full of birds,
       their houses are full of lies.
    They have become rich and powerful.
 ²⁸ They have grown big and fat.
    There is no end to the evil things they do.
       They won’t plead the case of the orphan
       or help the poor be judged fairly.
 ²⁹ Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
       “Shouldn’t I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

 ³⁰ “A terrible and shocking thing
       has happened in the land of Judah:
 ³¹ The prophets speak lies,
       and the priests take power into their own hands,
    and my people love it this way.
       But what will you do when the end comes? 

 

New Century Version(NCV)The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

… useless searching for something better then God.

Jeremiah 2

 

Israel Was God’s Holy Choice 

  1-3 God’s Message came to me. It went like this: “Get out in the streets and call to Jerusalem,
   ‘God’s Message!
I remember your youthful loyalty,
   our love as newlyweds.
You stayed with me through the wilderness years,
   stuck with me through all the hard places.
Israel was God’s holy choice,
   the pick of the crop.
Anyone who laid a hand on her
   would soon wish he hadn’t!'”
         God’s Decree.

 4-6Hear God’s Message, House of Jacob!
   Yes, you—House of Israel!
God’s Message: “What did your ancestors find fault with in me
   that they drifted so far from me,
Took up with Sir Windbag
   and turned into windbags themselves?

   It never occurred to them to say, ‘Where’s God,
   the God who got us out of Egypt,
Who took care of us through thick and thin, those rough-and-tumble
   wilderness years of parched deserts and death valleys,
A land that no one who enters comes out of,
   a cruel, inhospitable land?’

 7-8″I brought you to a garden land
   where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
   trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, ‘Where’s God?’
   The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
   The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.

 9-11″Because of all this, I’m bringing charges against you”
         —God’s Decree—
   “charging you and your children and your grandchildren.
Look around. Have you ever seen anything quite like this?
   Sail to the western islands and look.
Travel to the Kedar wilderness and look.
   Look closely. Has this ever happened before,
That a nation has traded in its gods
   for gods that aren’t even close to gods?
But my people have traded my Glory
   for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.

 12-13″Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see!
   Throw up your hands in disbelief—this can’t be!”
         God’s Decree.
“My people have committed a compound sin:
   they’ve walked out on me, the fountain
Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns—
   cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.

 14-17″Isn’t Israel a valued servant,
   born into a family with place and position?
So how did she end up a piece of meat
   fought over by snarling and roaring lions?
There’s nothing left of her but a few old bones,
   her towns trashed and deserted.
Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes
   have broken your skulls.
And why do you think all this has happened?
   Isn’t it because you walked out on your God
   just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?

 18-19″And now, what do you think you’ll get by going off to Egypt?
   Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water?
Or what do you think you’ll get by going off to Assyria?
   Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that’s what you’ll get.
   You’ll pay dearly for your disloyal ways.
Take a long, hard look at what you’ve done and its bitter results.
   Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?”
         God’s Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies. 

Addicted to Alien Gods  

 20-22″A long time ago you broke out of the harness.
   You shook off all restraints.
You said, ‘I will not serve!’
   and off you went,
Visiting every sex-and-religion shrine on the way,
   like a common whore.
You were a select vine when I planted you
   from completely reliable stock.
And look how you’ve turned out—
   a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.
Scrub, using the strongest soaps.
   Scour your skin raw.
The sin-grease won’t come out. I can’t stand to even look at you!”
   God’s Decree, the Master’s Decree.

 23-24″How dare you tell me, ‘I’m not stained by sin.
   I’ve never chased after the Baal sex gods’!
Well, look at the tracks you’ve left behind in the valley.
   How do you account for what is written in the desert dust—
Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that,
   tracks of a wild donkey in rut,
Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex.
   Who could possibly corral her!
On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex—
   insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.

 25″Slow down. Take a deep breath. What’s the hurry?
   Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway?
But you say, ‘I can’t help it.
   I’m addicted to alien gods. I can’t quit.’

 26-28″Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught,
   so the people of Israel are chagrined,
Caught along with their kings and princes,
   their priests and prophets.
They walk up to a tree and say, ‘My father!’
   They pick up a stone and say, ‘My mother! You bore me!’
All I ever see of them is their backsides.
   They never look me in the face.
But when things go badly, they don’t hesitate to come running,
   calling out, ‘Get a move on! Save us!’
Why not go to your handcrafted gods you’re so fond of?
   Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times.
You’ve got more gods, Judah,
   than you know what to do with.

 Trying Out Another Sin-Project  

 29-30″What do you have against me,
   running off to assert your ‘independence’?”
         God’s Decree.
“I’ve wasted my time trying to train your children.
   They’ve paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline.
And you’ve gotten rid of your God-messengers,
   treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.

 31-32″What a generation you turned out to be!
   Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t I warn you?
Have I let you down, Israel?
   Am I nothing but a dead-end street?
Why do my people say, ‘Good riddance!
   From now on we’re on our own’?
Young women don’t forget their jewelry, do they?
   Brides don’t show up without their veils, do they?
But my people forget me.
   Day after day after day they never give me a thought.

 33-35″What an impressive start you made
   to get the most out of life.
You founded schools of sin,
   taught graduate courses in evil!
And now you’re sending out graduates, resplendent in cap and gown—
   except the gowns are stained with the blood of your victims!
All that blood convicts you.
   You cut and hurt a lot of people to get where you are.
And yet you have the gall to say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.
   God doesn’t mind. He hasn’t punished me, has he?’
Don’t look now, but judgment’s on the way,
   aimed at you who say, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

 36-37″You think it’s just a small thing, don’t you,
   to try out another sin-project when the first one fails?
But Egypt will leave you in the lurch
   the same way that Assyria did.
You’re going to walk away from there
   wringing your hands.
I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted.
   You’ll get not a lick of help from them.” 

 

The Message (MSG)

…I have put my words in your mouth.

Jeremiah 1  

Demolish, and Then Start Over

 1-4 The Message of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah of the family of priests who lived in Anathoth in the country of Benjamin. God’s Message began to come to him during the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amos reigned over Judah. It continued to come to him during the time Jehoiakim son of Josiah reigned over Judah. And it continued to come to him clear down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah over Judah, the year that Jerusalem was taken into exile. This is what God said:

 5″Before I shaped you in the womb,
   I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
   I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
   that’s what I had in mind for you.”

 6But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me.
   I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”

 7-8God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’
   I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there.
I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it.
   Don’t be afraid of a soul.
I’ll be right there, looking after you.”
   God’s Decree.

 9-10God reached out, touched my mouth, and said,
   “Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!
See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do
   among nations and governments—a red-letter day!
Your job is to pull up and tear down,
   take apart and demolish,
And then start over,
   building and planting.” 

Stand Up and Say Your Piece 

 11-12God’s Message came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
   I said, “A walking stick—that’s all.”
And God said, “Good eyes! I’m sticking with you.
   I’ll make every word I give you come true.”

 13-15God’s Message came again: “So what do you see now?”
   I said, “I see a boiling pot, tipped down toward us.”
Then God told me, “Disaster will pour out of the north
   on everyone living in this land.
Watch for this: I’m calling all the kings out of the north.”
   God’s Decree.

 15-16″They’ll come and set up headquarters
   facing Jerusalem’s gates,
Facing all the city walls,
   facing all the villages of Judah.
I’ll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah
   for walking out on me—what a terrible thing to do!—
And courting other gods with their offerings,
   worshiping as gods sticks they’d carved, stones they’d painted.

 17″But you—up on your feet and get dressed for work!
   Stand up and say your piece. Say exactly what I tell you to say.
Don’t pull your punches
   or I’ll pull you out of the lineup.

 18-19″Stand at attention while I prepare you for your work.
   I’m making you as impregnable as a castle,
Immovable as a steel post,
   solid as a concrete block wall.
You’re a one-man defense system
   against this culture,
Against Judah’s kings and princes,
   against the priests and local leaders.
They’ll fight you, but they won’t
   even scratch you.
I’ll back you up every inch of the way.”

  God’s Decree.

 

The Message (MSG) 

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