Jeremiah 14: Hope in Darkness

Transcript

Finding Hope in Dark Times

Speaker 1 0:00

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 1:36

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 2:08

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 2:33

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 3:27

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 4:26

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 5:17

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 5:48

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 6:19

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 7:13

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 7:42

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 8:28

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 9:11

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

Finding Strength in God's Presence

Speaker 1 9:43

anymore .

Speaker 1 9:43

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 10:06

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 10:39

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 .