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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 205

"You have done worse than your fathers"

Text: Jeremiah 16:12

A FIRM RESPONSE

Jeremiah, fortified by his renewal from the Lord (Jeremiah 15:19-21), spoke firmly as a courageous prophet of God! He was not intimidated by the resistance of the people!

“Then you shall say to them,
‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD;
‘they have walked after other gods
and have served them and worshiped them,
and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold,
each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart,
so that no one listens to Me.
Therefore I will cast you out of this land
into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers;
and there you shall serve other gods day and night,
where I will not show you favour.'”
Jeremiah 16:11-13

1. “Then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD;
‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them,
and have forsaken Me and not kept My law'”

a) This was the first response.
b) This was not a new word at all.
i) The forsaking of God by their fathers.
ii) Idolatrous practices of worshipping and serving false deities.
iii) The laws of God were not kept.

2. “And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold,
each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me”

a) This was the second response.
b) Again, this was not something that was new to the hearers.
c) This word of rebuke was repeated:
i) The people were worse than their predecessors.
ii) They followed their evil hearts.
iii) No one listens to the Lord.

3. “Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know,
neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night,
where I will not show you favour”

a) The judgment of God stated again.
i) They will be expelled from their land (Judah).
ii) They will be taken captive to another land they know nothing about.
b) Since they are so enamoured of the false deities.
i) They will find these deities in the land of their exile.
ii) They can then worship these idols day and night.
c) God’s favour:
i) This is a reference to His mercy.
ii) And also, His blessings.
iii) They would be withdrawn.