This Sunday, we’re continuing our trek through the book of Jeremiah.  It’s been kind of a depressing journey thus far. We have been treated to a tapestry of horrors just in the first 3 chapters of Jeremiah.  The faithlessness and sin of God’s people is stunning. And here in chapter 4:5-31, we begin to see the consequences of their wicked behavior.

The judgment that we expect is depressing.  We expect it to be really terrible in light of just how bad the people are.  But the reactions and perspectives of the major characters reveal that each one approaches the coming judgment differently.  The people react with fear, panic, and continue in their own strength. The Lord acts with finality and wrath, executing justice for the many sins committed against Him.  He is fed up with a sinful, unfaithful people, and so He’s taking extreme measures to discipline them. But Jeremiah is stuck in the middle. He’s one of the people of God, but he’s also the Prophet of God.  He understands that the disaster to come is richly deserved, but that disaster is coming for him.  How does he react?

His reaction to his predicament has big implications for the way that we live in a culture that seems to be departing more and more from many of the Christian values it was founded upon.  Remember, Jeremiah lived and served in a post-God culture, just like we do. Come Sunday ready to think about how we engage a culture that so richly deserves judgment with the Gospel.