• What does God reveal about Himself?
• How is my own heart revealed?
• How does this passage underline the wonder of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ, and your own need of Christ as Saviour and Lord?

Turn these truths into prayer and praise.

11 September    Jer 4:5-31

Jeremiah prophesies that God will send armies from the north to attack His people and devastate their land. Note the reason (vv.18,22), and His people’s folly in trying to flirt with their enemies (v.30). Jeremiah doesn’t gloat; he grieves (vv.19-21). Yet there is a glimmer of hope (v.27).

12 September    Jer 5:1-31

A devastating analysis of Judah’s sins. Note the folly of sin (v.3) and its self-harming nature (vv.23-25). Hence God’s unanswerable questions (vv.7,9,22,29) leading to the crushing conclusion (v.31). Sin and rebellion have their own terrible logic. Yet once again, God holds out hope (v.18)

13 September    Jer 6:1-15

Judgement is coming, but no-one is listening to Jeremiah’s message (v.10). The sad words of vv.13-15 challenge the leaders of God’s people today as much as in Jeremiah’s generation.

14 September    Jer 6:16-30

A frightening picture of the hardness of heart that is possible even among those who profess faith in the Lord. God’s judgement comes, not because God is a tyrant, but because people stubbornly choose evil and refuse all warnings (vv.16-17, 27-29). The coming disaster is “the fruit of their schemes” (v.19).

15 September    Jer 7:1 – 8:3

Jeremiah warns that outward religious observance is worthless without a change of heart and behaviour. God had earlier destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel for such hypocrisy (vv.12-15). In fact, He had been faced with similar disobedience ever since He rescued His people from slavery in Egypt (vv.21-26). Now He will do the same to Judah and Jerusalem.

16 September    Jer 8:4-22

Jeremiah describes how sin hardens us, making us stubborn (vv.4-6), foolish (vv.7-9), greedy (v.10), blind (v.11) and shameless (v.12). Yet he doesn’t condemn his people coldly; rather, he suffers alongside them as he anticipates the coming judgement (vv.18-22).

17 September    Jer 9:1-25

This chapter underlines the sad necessity of judgement (v.7,9) which is as grievous to the Lord Himself as it is to Jeremiah. Verses 23-24 are worth memorizing: three fading glories (v.23) and one unfading one (v.24). These verses lie behind Paul’s words in 1Cor 1:26-31 – look them up!

Photo by Ian Scott: The prophet Jeremiah at the foot of the Colonna dell’Immacolata, at the end of the Piazza di spagna, Rome (1857). Creative Commons Attribution and Share Alike license https://www.flickr.com/photos/ian-w-scott/4621985308