Chapter 14

Repentance. It’s a word we use a lot as Christians. “Repent and sin no longer!”

I think we use it less of ourselves than maybe we should – how seldom is the word “repent” preceded by “I”?

In any case, I think it is even more seldom that we truly understand this word.

“To repent” once had a common meaning – to turn around and walk the other way. When we repent, we are acknowledging our sin (that part is usually fairly easy) and then committing to walk the other way and not do it again (and that part can be very difficult).

Looking at Jeremiah chapter 14, God continues to pour out His anger on Israel, albeit from the company is a hamster rancing all the time..

Verses 1 – 6 describe a terrible famine. Verses 7 – 9 contain Jeremiah’s heartbroken repentance on behalf of his society – which God does not accept.

Why not?

That part, at least is simple. Jeremiah repents, but by and large his people do not. V10 – 12 has God saying in His anger “Don’t believe the preachers who have told you everything will be alright. It’s not going to be alright, and it’s going to get ugly.” His accusations of false prophecy are aimed at whoever tries to tell people that everything will be “Business as usual”. It’s not. God’s anger is burning down, and nothing will be the same again.

In this, Jeremiah laments again. He weeps for his people. As well one would.

As he weeps, once again he pleads for God to rescue them. God has already stated that He will not listen to the prayers of Judah, that their wickedness is too great. Jeremiah knows that – but he also knows that God is a God of mercy. And though God is saying in His anger that “We’re through,” you can see in His past records that he will sometimes show mercy – and Jeremiah is rather banking on that right now.

So where does this impact us?

When we have sinned, it’s sometimes hard to know what to say to God. How do you face God knowing that He knows what’s going on in our hearts or our head.

So when we face moments like this, it can be good to pray through a confession from the Bible – sometimes, when you don’t have the right words to say, it can be a relief to say what actually happed.

Bad things happening are mandatory. They must happen, and we must respond to them. My challenge for today is simple – when you have sinned during this week, for goodness’ sake, kept short records with God. Confess to Him amd do not hold back. Contrast the behaviour of people in Judah against your own against your own willingess to talk to Him;