Day 159 – March 28, 2024: Jeremiah 1-6 and Psalm 36-39

Whew, that was a lot. We begin the book of Jeremiah. Remember, he was a prophet who worked for the Lord for 40 years and did not have a single person who listened to him. That would be 40 years as a pastor in a church and not a single new member to join the church while you are there. I would think that would be disheartening. His task was to warn Israel and Judah that they were about to be taken over by Babylon and as a result they were going to be taken to a foreign land in exile. This does indeed happen, but the people of God come up with schemes to avoid it. We will see later what that looks like.

The Psalms, similarly, are basically laments that the enemies of the author are given the upper hand and it feels like the enemies have almost a preference. Like Jeremiah, no one is listening to the Lord and they are choosing to follow those things that historically have taken people away from the Lord. The priests do not serve the Lord but rather their own interests or the interests of crooked kings. This is the primary theme in both Jeremiah and the Psalms. People and leaders who are not looking to follow the will of God but would rather follow their own desires. The more things change…