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Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 128

"Because we have sinned against the LORD"

Text: Jeremiah 8:14

A NECESSARY RESPONSE

Jeremiah was given the word of the LORD to warn the people of a devastating invasion that would take place shortly. He knew that many did not believe fully what he had prophesied! But some did listen but they did not know what to do.

“Why do we sit still?
Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there.
For the LORD our God has put us to silence
And given us water of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against the LORD.
We looked for peace, but no good came;
And for a time of health, and there was trouble!”
Jeremiah 8:14-15

1. “Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities”

a) There were some who had listened.
b) But they were almost paralysed with shock.
c) What should they do next?
d) Practical advice was needed.
i) Sitting still
Doing nothing was not the way to go.
ii) Assemble yourselves
The people needed to organize themselves instead of panicking.
iii) Entering the fortified cities
The people here may have been living in the countryside.
They would have no protection of any kind, out in the open.

2. “And let us be silent there. For the LORD our God has put us to silence”

a) Silence
i) In contrast to complaining and clamouring.
ii) Silence before God was good and important.
b) God had put them to silence.
i) The people had nothing to fall back on.
ii) All their arguments (false ones) had fallen flat.
iii) This was needed silence to hear what God had to say to them.

3. “And given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.”

a) Water of gall
i) Bitter water.
ii) This was a figure of speech that described the bitterness of life experienced currently.
b) Sinned against the Lord.
i) This should have been obvious.
ii) In the silence, the heart may be convicted of great sins committed.

4. “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and there was trouble!”

a) The people had looked for peace and health.
i) This was normal.
ii) The question was how the people had sought for these things.
b) Their search had produced nothing:
i) No good came.
ii) No health was found
iii) Only trouble

The children of Judah had forsaken God and had sought blessings from idols.
These could not give them anything they desired.