Week 43 - middle of Jeremiah - Boxset Binge the Bible

Severn Vineyard's All You Can Eat Buffet

Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about chapters 23 to 43 of the biggest book in the Bible, Jeremiah.

What started as relentless sounding doom and gloom turns a corner here as hope is revealed, albeit at a traumatic time for God’s people.

One of the most popular prophecies for sharing and encouraging today comes from this part of the book of Jeremiah - God does know the plans he has to bring people hope and a future. But we need to understand what these were for the original listeners before we can grasp the power of this encouragement.

The warned destruction and forced exile came true, and while one false prophet offered encouragement that it would be very short, Jeremiah delivered a different word - that it would last beyond the listeners’ lifetimes, but they could find new life and look forward to their descendants finding more.

God’s plans were not to deliver instant relief, but to love, strengthen, reconnect and restore people over time, sometimes in new and surprising ways.

God’s ultimate aim is revealed here, for people to have his ways in their own hearts and minds, not just laws to follow but shared desires to love, strengthen, reconnect and restore where we are. This is easy to like as an idea, but hard to live in practice. Can we do it in our own strength, or do we need to let God work this out through us?

In the next part of our boxset, we complete Jeremiah and also listen to Psalms 90 to 106. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.