Jeremiah 4-5

Jeremiah 4

Verse 4: Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done--burn with no one to quench it.

• The circumcision spoken of here is inward, which is interesting since I was under the impression that most Old Testament references would have have been to the physical act. The verse in Deuteronomy (10:16) also shatters my assumption. And as I would have thought, the Romans passage (2:28-29) refers to circumsision as an inward act.
• The inward act is related to the heart & ourselves. We should submit our will to God's.
• The wrath of the LORD is mentioned as well. This wrath will occur, but in reading Zephaniah 2:2, it is apparent that people who consider themselves God's people should seek him now so that we might be spared.

Verse 10: Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, 'You will have peace', when the sword is at our throats."

• God deceives? This is a challenging notion. Reading 2 Thessalonians 2:11, it appears that this deception comes as a result of the peoples' worldly appetites. It almost seems as though the people deceive themselves by what the LORD is saying to them due to their annebriated & sinful state. They don't even realize what they are doing or the consequences of such actions.

Verse 22: My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.

• This is very true today, and it's a main reason why God had to send His son as a sacrifice for our inability to do good & our propensity for doing evil.

Chapter 5

Verse 7: Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.

• The continued references to idols & adultery give us an idea of how the LORD views our disobedience. We don't really have idols today that are physical like the ones of gold, silver, or wood that were back then, but we do have idolotrous behavior. We still fall to our sinful desires.
• God still fulfills our needs, but we still chase after un-Godly pursuits. Why do we do this? Can't we see that God is sufficient? I pray that I would continue to find this out.

Verse 19: And when the people ask, "Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?" you will tell them, "As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.

• Given the Middle East issues that are going on and have been going on for so long, this verse is certainly prophetic. The land ownership uncertainty the Jews have undergone & the constant upheaval they've been under from their neighbors are a couple of related points in this verse.