Jeremiah 26

I started the book of Jeremiah on my plane ride to Chile, and it's been an interesting book so far. My goal is to complete the entire Bible by the time I graduate college, and I'm doing pretty decently so far. After Ezekiel and Psalms, I won't have any more "major" books to complete in the old testament... the minor prophets should be relatively quick reads, I think. If anyone wants to catch up to me in Jeremiah so we can read and comment together, you can listen to the first 26 chapters of Jeremiah here (this is really easy to multitask with other work). It's 94 minutes long.

My reading today was Jeremiah 25 & 26, and Jeremiah chapter 26 really stood out to me. Basically, Jeremiah has just delivered Epically bad news to all the kings of Jerusalem, Judah, and other parts of Israel. God has given them chances to repent of their evil ways, but they haven't listened (what's new in the OT?), so God is about to bring all the kingdoms of the North, including Babylon, against them.

Of course the leaders in Israel react negatively to Jeremiah's message... who wouldn'treact poorly if someone told him that his nation had been really sinful and was about to be completely overrun because of it? However, the most interesting part of this passage is a comparison between Jeremiah, and another prophet (who was also prophesying correctly in the name of the Lord) named Uriah. When Jeremiah is confronted by people in Israel wanting to kill Him for His message, he says to them: "Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster He has pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth to LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing."

In contrast, Uriah sought to fix his situation under his own strength. "When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. " King Jehoiakim sent men after him. "They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people."

One of my life themes is always seeking not to control my life and do things under my own strength, but instead letting God take control and following His far superior wisdom. This is really hard to do. If I found out the Chilean government wanted to kill me or imprison me, I'd want to go hide away in another country to "be safe." But the safest place in the world is always exactly where God wants you to be. Uriah's course of action makes a lot more "sense" to us. But Jeremiah's course of action... trusting in God to take care of him, and standing behind his message was the much safer and more powerful course of action. I pray that I can have the boldness to follow God's plan no matter how much "sense" another course of action makes.

Equally here, it's easy to want to "fix" situations I find dissatisfying. I've been striving a lot in making friends instead of enjoying to experiences I have had. The meat and potatoes of this passage is trust, though, and I'm excited to start trusting God more with my time and activities here.

Love you all!