Serving the Lord in Leytonstone, London
It is sometimes said that God cannot be both all-good and all-powerful because if He was there would be no evil. So either He’s in favour of evil, or He can’t do anything about it. This passage shows Jeremiah wrestling with a version of that dilemma
Judah has betrayed her Lord. She may once have thrown out the idols she worshipped but now they’re all back with more besides. Does she imagine the Lord won’t notice?
Jeremiah once more describes in vivid detail the level of trouble heading towards Judah. He responds to his prophecy with a cry of anguish: why have the people of Judah listened to the voices in their own heads instead of to the voice of the Lord?
The writer of Hebrews has passionately encouraged his Christian friends in Jerusalem not to turn away from Jesus for salvation. If they do they will harden themselves, and lose everything.
The temple in first century Jerusalem was a dramatic place, with staff of priests headed up by the high priest.
Christians can find the pressures of life so overwhelming that we go astray from the Lord. Instead of living by faith, we are pushed by our thoughts and desires into wrong behaviour.