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The Bible Breakdown
Jeremiah 14: Hope in Darkness
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, jeremiah, chapter 14, and today's title is Hope in Darkness Hope in Darkness. One of the things I love about God is he brings His flashlight all by Himself. God is light all by Himself, and so if you have Him, you already have all that you need. And even when we walk away, even when we don't know what's going on, even when we sometimes blame it on him, he's still faithful, he's still good and he's always working in more ways than we can see. We're getting all that in just a second, but if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Thank you so much for everyone who's recently been doing both. We have recently got to over 1600 subscribers on YouTube channel. I know that's not a lot for a lot of people, but considering the fact that none of y'all have to be here, I'm thankful for every single one of you. Thank you very, very much and also so thankful for the podcast. We literally have people listening now all over the world and I want to say thank you so, very much. Also, thank you for your patience. I know that we are always tweaking things and moving things, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, but it's always because we want to get into God's word together. So thank you for being a part of this journey with us. And I want to say a special thank you to our Bible Breakdown Discussion Devotion Team. There's a team of people that do devotions on Facebook every single day and they do an amazing job. And it's hard to do because it's just constantly just another thing on their schedule, but they do an amazing job, and so I just want to say thank you to them so very much.
Speaker 1:Well, if you have your Bibles, open up with me to chapter 14 of the book of Jeremiah. Once again, one of the things I love about God is there's going to be this moment where the nation of Israel they're almost being passive, aggressive with God. Well, god, for your sake, why don't you bless us? Why don't you get out of this problem, get us out of this issue and all this stuff? And God is like I love you. Bad things are still coming, but I'm still not going to give up on you, and that's one of the things I love about God so much.
Speaker 1:Imagine this for a moment. Imagine you had an enemy. Some of y'all are going Pastor, I ain't got to. Imagine I got a couple of them. Okay, imagine your enemy for a moment and imagine you decided you know what? I want to try to reach out to them, I want to see if we can mend this fence right. So you reach out to them and you try to do the best you can to mend that fence and they just slap your hand away. I want nothing to do with you, get away from me.
Speaker 1:Well, would you go back to them again? Let's say you do, and let's say when you go back to them they slap your hand away again. No, do with you, get away from me. How many times would you go back to them before you say well then, praise the Lord, it's between you and Jesus. Now, right? How many times Peter one time said God, should I go? Seven times, no-transcript, when we have taken him for granted, when we have prayed and said God, if you're real, why don't you do it my way? I've done that before. And yet he comes back over and over and over again, and even when he's in the middle of saying there's going to be judgment, he's still also offering hope. I love that so much. Let's read this together Jeremiah 14, verse one, says this this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord, explaining why he was holding back the rain.
Speaker 1:So once again they're living in this desert, arid area. Rain was massively important and so there's a drought. And he's saying this is actually part of the judgment of God. And God's going to say I'm going to tell you why, verse 2, judah wilts. Commerce at the city gates grind to a halt. All the people sit on the ground in mourning and a great cry rises from Jerusalem. The noble send servants to get water, but all the wells are dry. The servants return with empty pitchers, confused and desperate, covering their heads in grief. The ground is parched and cracked for lack of rain. The farmers are deeply troubled. They too cover their heads. Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass in the field. The wild donkeys stand on the bare hills, panting like thirsty jackals. They strain their eyes looking for grass, but there is none to be found.
Speaker 1:The people say our wickedness has caught up with us, lord, but help us for the sake of your own reputation. They have turned away from you and sinned against you again and again. Oh, hope of Israel, our Savior in times of trouble. Why are you like a stranger to us? Why are you like a traveler passing through the land, stopping only for the night? Are you also confused? Is our champion helpless to save us? You are right here among us, lord. We are known as your people. Please don't abandon us now. So this is what the Lord says to his people you love to wander far from me and do not restrain yourselves. Therefore, I will no longer accept you as my people. Now. I will remember all the wickedness and punish you for your sins.
Speaker 1:Then the Lord said to me don't pray for these people anymore. When they fast, I will pay no attention. When they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine and disease. Then I said O, sovereign Lord, their prophets are telling them all is well, no war or famine will come, as the Lord will surely send you peace.
Speaker 1:Then the Lord said these prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations that I have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts. Therefore, this is what the Lord says I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name, even though I never sent them.
Speaker 1:They say no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine. For the people to whom they prophesy, their bodies will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons and daughters, all will be gone, for I will pour out their own wickedness on them. Now, jeremiah, say this to them. Night and day, my eyes overflow with tears. I cannot stop weeping for my virgin daughter, my precious people. They have been struck down and lie mortally wounded. If I go out into the field, I see the bodies of people slaughtered by the enemy. If I walk the city streets, I see people who have died of starvation. The prophets and priests continue their work, but they don't know what they're doing.
Speaker 1:Lord, have you completely rejected Judah? Do you really hate Jerusalem? Why? Why have you wounded us past all hope of healing? Why? Why have you wounded us past all hope of healing? We hoped for peace, but no peace came. No-transcript. We confess our wickedness and that our ancestors too, we have sinned against you and for the sake of your reputation, lord, don't abandon us.
Speaker 1:Verse 22 says Can any of the worthless foreign gods send us rain? Does it fall from the sky by itself? No, you are the one, o Lord, our God, only you can do such things. So I will wait for you to help us. Man, I love that so very much, you know. The amazing thing about this is is as the people begin to see what's going on, they're turning their hearts over to the Lord, and the Lord is helping them see that he truly is the one who can save them. That's what that last verse says. He says only God will do, only God can bring the healing, and so we will wait on you.
Speaker 1:Can I tell you that there is a time and place to go to friends, to go to relatives, to talk to other people around us. There's a time and place to go to friends, to go to relatives, to talk to other people around us. There's a time and place for that. But there's nothing like just going before God and telling him how your heart is hurting, telling him the deepest things, telling him exactly what's going on. I'm telling you there's nothing like it and there's nothing like having a friend. I have a great friend who lives out of town, and so we talk a lot, but we don't get to talk in person very often, and there's nothing like just talking to my friend and just saying, man, here's all the stuff I don't like about life right now, you know what I mean. Or talking to him and saying, hey, here's the things I'm celebrating right now. Maybe you have a friend like that too, and that's wonderful.
Speaker 1:But he can only understand to a point because he doesn't live inside my own head. He doesn't know exactly what's going on. You know, the great thing about God is he knows all of it, and the amazing thing is he loves us anyway. And so I want to leave you with this thought God wants to give us hope in every dark place. If you're in a place right now where you're having a great season and you've gone through some difficult times, this is a wonderful testimony for you that you used to be in this space and you're not anymore.
Speaker 1:And so when we're finished, maybe you take a few moments and say God, I remember those storms and, man, look at how you kept me. But maybe you're right in the middle of one of those storms and you don't have anyone else to turn to. Maybe you feel like no one else understands. And here's the truth. No one else maybe will tell you this. I'll tell you this. They don't. There's no way they can truly understand, because nobody's ever been you before Now.
Speaker 1:We all understand what pain is like, what fear is like, what suffering is like. We understand that, but not the particular thing. So there's a certain amount of grace we need to give with one another that there's no way we could understand exactly what you're going through. But there is one who does, and it's God. The Bible says that while Jesus was on the earth, he was tested in every way, yet without sin. But then, on top of that, god knows us because he made us. He knows everything there is to know about us. So the great thing is is he is with us and he's for us in every way.
Speaker 1:So what would it look like today If you found a place by yourself, so there's no eavesdroppers, nobody leaning in to hear, and you just told God the deepest thing on your heart? Can I tell you he's not mad at you, he's not going to get mad at you, he's not ashamed of you. He. He's not going to get mad at you, he's not ashamed of you. He already knows and he's still going to show up anyway. What an amazing God we have to give us hope in darkness. Let's pray together right now, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you're for us, and I pray that as we reach out to you, god, you will have your way in us. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. What God's word says in Jeremiah 29, verse 13,. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. My hope for you is that you find God fresh and new every day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Isaiah, excuse me. Jeremiah, chapter 15.
