Glory to God! Hallelujah! The Lord God Almighty whom we trust and worship has blessed us yet with another week to live in our body and glorify His holy name on earth. He is faithful and trustworthy and cares for anyone who draws closer to the throne of grace. Praise God for His faithfulness in our lives at this moment, today, yesterday, during the past weeks and months and years. We are still alive and staying strengthened and healthy because He is alive and His faithful promises to provide all that we need in our lives [whether it is spiritual or physical/material needs]. The Lord helped us to take care of all our needs in life both spiritual and physical and we lacked nothing in life as He blessed us with good things in our life. David king of Israel challenged his hearers/readers, saying: Taste and see that the Lord is good … for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing (Psalm 34:8-10; also refer to Psalm 23:1; Matthew 6:33; John 6:35; Philippians 4:19). King David who personally experienced the faithfulness of God in his life tells us that even while the strong animals like lions [the king of the jungles] lack their food and suffer hunger, those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing, which indicates that those who trust in themselves or in the worldly resources will lack and suffer loss but if we trust in the Lord and fear Him with due respect and honor He will come down to meet all our needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). As God remains faithful, trustworthy, reliable, and ready to meet all our needs, He is asking us to be faithful and trustworthy and reliable in our dealings with God, our family, our community and the rest of the world. That means, we need to be right with our spiritual life, personal life, family life, and social/communal life. Also, God commands us that we ought to pass all that we have received from the Lord [which includes all that we have seen, heard, learned and experienced from the Lord] to the next generation so that they in turn will pass it to the generation that comes after them and thus from generation after generation God’s faithfulness will be revealed to all those who place their trust in Him, as the Lord commanded through Moses His servant:

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully … Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them (Deuteronomy 4:5-9; also refer to Genesis 18:19; Exodus 12:26-27; 13:8-9; Deuteronomy 4:9-10; 6:4-13)

Asaph son of Berekiah, a prominent Levite and skilled musician, who was appointed as one of the chief Levitical choir masters/leaders by king David (1 Chronicles 15:16-17) urged his hearers/readers to follow the righteous laws and decrees and commands the Lord gave to His people Israel and teach them to their children (that is, the next generation people):

He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. They would not be like their ancestors— a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him (Psalm 78:5-8)

God is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:13), so let us be faithful in our relationship with God and others. Faithfulness is the total outcome of one’s integrity of heart, loyalty, truthfulness, trustworthiness, reliability, forbearance, dedication, and so on in everything they say or do.  We can be assured that God is faithful and His faithfulness towards us will never vanish or disappear because He has loved us with an everlasting love and drawn us to Himself with unfailing kindness, as prophet Jeremiah stated: The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness (Jeremiah 31:3; also refer to Deuteronomy 7:7-9; 10:15; Psalm 103:17).

The Lord has blessed us with a unique Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week that is taken from the writings of prophet Jeremiah (17:7-8 / mentioned above). The prophetic book of Jeremiah is written by Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin who was born and raised in Anathoth [a town in the territory of Benjamin that is not very far from Jerusalem, the capitol city of Judah] (Jeremiah 1:1; 11:21). The Lord chose Jeremiah for His ministry and appointed him to be His prophet even before he was born (Jeremiah 1:4-19). God appointed him over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10). The Lord God put His words in his mouth and used him to bring His message [including warnings] to His people (Jeremiah 1:9). God also asked him to write on a scroll all that God spoke through him (Jeremiah 36:2). For instance, God told him to write on a scroll all that He told him during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin. So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll (Jeremiah 36:1-4)

From the his writings, we can understand that prophet Jeremiah served the Lord his God and God’s people in Judah during the reign of king Josiah son of Amon, king Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king Zedekiah son of Josiah, and up until the Babylonian invasion of Judah and the exile of the people of Judah to Babylon, as it is recorded: The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile (Jeremiah 1:2-3). Perhaps Jeremiah moved from Anathoth to Jerusalem as a grown up person to serve the Lord his God (aka: the God of his ancestors [Exodus 3:6; 2 Chronicles 20:6; Acts 22:14] / the God of Israel [Jeremiah 30:1; 1 Kings 8:23; Psalm 72:18] / the God of heaven [Genesis 24:3; Nehemiah 1:5; 2:20]) as a prophet, reformer, spiritual-social-political advisor to the king and his officials and to counsel and guide and lead the people of Judah and Jerusalem back to the God of Israel, as almost all of them rebelled against Him and forsook Him and involved in idolatry and lived their life the way the people of their neighboring nations live – practicing injustice in the land the Lord, the God of their ancestors, gave them as inheritance. The people of Judah [the chosen people of God] sinned against the Lord, the God of their fathers, individually and collectively and it did not go unnoticed, as it is mentioned: Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars (Jeremiah 17:1). The Lord warned the people of Judah [the kings and the officials and the priests and the prophets and the people alike] through prophet Jeremiah that He is planning to bring down disaster upon them if they continue to sin and rebel against Him. Prophet Jeremiah sternly warned his people of Jerusalem and Judah about the forthcoming judgment from the Lord because of their idolatry and injustice. However, the people of Jerusalem and Judah rejected all his advice and the Lord’s warnings and continued to live their life against the will of God, as it is mentioned: 

Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors. When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips (Jeremiah 7:20-28).

As he prophesied, Judah was besieged and invaded by the Babylonians. He personally witnessed the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem by the Babylonian army, the destruction of the City and the Temple, and the exile of the people of Jerusalem and Judah to Babylon.

The prophetic ministry of Jeremiah was not so easy to carry out among the people of Judah who were a rebellious and idolatrous people. They gave him very tough time when they heard the message the Lord gave them through him and they persecuted him with beatings, imprisonment, exile to Egypt, and so on. His ministry paths were filled with lots of hardships as he was opposed by almost everyone in the land of Judah and Jerusalem, which included the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land (Jeremiah 1:18). However, God promised to protect his life from their hands (Jeremiah 1:19). Jeremiah served the Lord his God faithfully and carried out whatever the Lord commanded him even in the midst persecution and hardships. Ultimately, he came to be known as the weeping [mourning] prophet.

Jeremiah who closely knew God states that Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him (Jeremiah 17:7). If we put the same statement in our words, it will read in this way: ‘we will be blessed for sure if we trust in the Lord and the Lord becomes our confidence.’ If so, we will be like a tree planted by the water, as Jeremiah stated: Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. That person will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Let us read, study, analyze, and meditate the Scripture passage again for our spiritual benefits:

• • Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord (17:7a)
  • Blessed is the man whose confidence is in the Lord (17:7b)
  • The person who trust in the Lord will be like a tree planted by the water (17:8a)
  • The tree that is planted by the water sends out its roots by the stream (17:8b)
  • The tree that is planted by the water does not fear when heat comes (17:8c)
  • The leaves of the tree that is planted by the water are always green (17:8d)
  • The tree that is planted by the water will have no worries when the season changes (17:8e)
  • The tree that is planted by the water will not worry when drought comes (17:8f)
  • The tree that is planted by the water will never fail to bear fruit (17:8g)

In our spiritual journey, it is important for us to know that placing our trust in the Lord and the Lord becomes our confidence is the ultimate outcome of our belief that God exists. Anyone who believes that God exists ought to place their trust in Him and place their confidence in the Lord. There will not be any difference between a person who believes that God exists and a person who do not believe that God exists if the person who believes that God exists does not trust Him or make God their confidence. What makes the difference for the person who believes that God exists is when he/she places their trust in the Lord God and places their confidence in Him. We can learn from the Scripture that a person who trusts in the Lord will be blessed, as king David stated: Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD (Psalm 40:4a; also refer to 34:8; 37:5; 84:12; 146:5; Proverbs 3:5-6; 16:20; Isaiah 26:4).

We can understand from our studies of the Scripture that prophet Jeremiah has experienced the love, compassion, faithfulness, and power of God as he served the Lord, the God of his fathers, and his fellow-Israelites faithfully. He said and did everything God commanded him to do. In fact, he lived as a true worshipper and faithful follower of God of Israel and a true descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and so on who faithfully obeyed and followed the Lord their God. There are numerous lessons we can learn from the life and ministry of prophet Jeremiah, which would definitely empower us to lead a purposeful spiritual life and a productive spiritual ministry we are called to carry out. Below mentioned are a few of such thoughts for our spiritual benefit:

• • Jeremiah lived as a true descendant of Abraham following God faithfully even in the midst of rejection and persecution
  • Jeremiah’s life reflected God’s holiness in his speech and actions
  • Through Jeremiah God warned the people of Jerusalem and Judah [especially those people who were living their lives in a way that rejects God and His righteous laws and decrees and commands and rebel against Him] that He is planning to bring down His punishment upon them including loss of life
  • Jeremiah did not waver before rejection of him and his messages by his own people or when severe persecution hit his life directly
  • Jeremiah did what was right before God even in the midst of suffering and persecution
  • Jeremiah was put in prison while carrying out God’s mission
  • Jeremiah remained faithful to himself, to his people, and before God while his own people were rebellious and unfaithful to the Lord their God, the source of all their blessings

Our study/meditation of the Word suggests to us to take God’s warning to us seriously if we have done wrong in the sight of God. People who do not take God’s warning seriously will face the consequences, which could be painful and hurtful. Remember, when we wrong either God or those around us, He gives us a means to make everything right with Him and with others and get out from our wrong paths and get into the right way – a way that leads to the throne of Grace where we can plead for His mercy. Even if God punishes us for the wrong we have committed, or disciplines us for a good purpose, He will never leave us nor forsake us, and this is His promise to us (Genesis 28:15; Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5; Matthew 28:20b; Hebrews 13:5). God said: Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3).

Dear friends in the Lord, as we conclude our SftW meditation for this week, let us know the fact that God is loving and compassionate and He is faithful to us. God being Righteous and Just, He blesses everyone who lives a righteous life and punishes everyone who does not live a righteous life. He has every right to punish His people [whom He called by His name and separated for Himself] if they deviate away from the spiritual path that is set for them based on His righteous laws and decrees and commands and if they rebel against His righteous plan and purpose in this world. In fact, God is calling us to live a holy and righteous life in this unrighteous world which would bring (i) glory and honor to God among those who neither trust Him nor acknowledge Him and (ii) blessings to ourselves and others around us. Therefore, let us draw closer to the throne of God and submit our lives before Him and hold fast unto Him who delivers us from all our troubles and hardships and blesses us with everything we need for our spiritual and physical needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.

May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!