Opening Up Jeremiah

Jeremiah prophesied, with due warnings, to a people who had forsaken the true and living God. Yet he is known as the "weeping prophet", not only because of the book of Lamentations, but also for his anguish. His words were largely unheeded nevertheless, He persevered against both hostility and hardness – a resounding message for today. In these days when the unborn are at such risk, it is good to be reminded that God knew Jeremiah before he formed him in the womb. Moreover, in contrast to the current insistence on one’s right to choose, the same verse reiterates God’s sovereignty, whereby he set Jeremiah apart before he was born. One of the sins against which Jeremiah spoke arose from the fact that the Lord’s people have frighteningly short memories. The process was twofold: the forsaking of God, and the following a false gods. Such sent reflects stubbornness, described by someone as “Won’t power", Rather than willpower. Yet God issued an incredible invitation for the restoration, conditional upon their acknowledgement of guilt, and the removal of all detestable things from His presence. God's promises and warnings are often conditional. Later, by reference to several texts, the author explains that although scripture appears to suggest that God changed his mind wherever the people repented, that is not to be missed understood as plan B: "Plan A incorporated the free choices of human beings, and the Lord's response to them all along". Jeremiah has great relevance today.