That the book of Lamentations even makes it into the Bible seems to give credibility to the fact that in God’s loving-kindness, God gives us room to grieve. Just a surface reading of the book lets us know that for God’s children, it’s ok to cry. Mourning the fall of Jerusalem and the death of many loved ones, the poet writes on tear soaked pages, “My eyes overflow with tears” (1:16) . . . “Bitterly [I] weep at night; tears are upon [my] cheeks” (1:2) . . . “My groans are many and my heart is faint.” Grief and pain pour off his pen. The aching is tangible. Continue reading Day 59: A heart can be broken, but it keeps beating just the same

OK, to follow up on yesterday’s blog. Most people who believe the Bible is inspired by God believe it is important to read all and even memorize parts of the scripture. Now, none of us memorize all the Bible. Well, my friends Don Johnson and Bethel Abogador may have it all memorized, but most of us only memorize a small portion of the scriptures. If we’re honest, most of us don’t read all the Bible, or at least don’t read all of it the same way. Some parts we consider more applicable to our lives than others. I’m going to go out on a limb and say, that’s ok. But we should be a little bit suspicious of how we go Continue reading Day 58: How do you choose? Part II

To be honest, today’s reading was a little tough. Mostly bad news for the people of Judah. Either surrender to Babylon or be killed. Not the best options. No wonder the people were tempted to just put their fingers in their ears and ignore the bad news or throw Jeremiah in a pit. You know, whatever worked at the time! Ignoring bad news is a fairly common human response. Continue reading Day 57: When do you listen?

Cover to Cover: Jeremiah 22:19-32:42 Key Passage: Jeremiah 29:1-23 Verse of the Day: Jeremiah 29:11 Key events in today’s reading: The Righteous Branch Prophecy (23:1-8) Seventy Years of Captivity Foretold (25:1-14) The False Prophet Hananiah (28) Jeremiah’s Words to the Exiles (Jeremiah 29:1-23) Words of Comfort (30-31) Jeremiah Buys a Field (32) Verse that stood out: Once more fields will be bought in this land of … Continue reading Day 56: A Buyer’s Market

Cover to Cover: Jeremiah 9:20-22:18 Key Passage: Jeremiah 20:7-18 Verse of the Day: Jeremiah 20:9 Key events in today’s reading: Jeremiah’s Complaint and God’s Answer (12) Jeremiah at the Potter’s House (18) Jeremiah Makes Another Complaint (20:7-18 Eugene Peterson’s once wrote a book based on the book of Jeremiah called Running with Horses. The title comes from a verse in chapter 12. Jeremiah asks what seems … Continue reading Day 55: Running with Horses

Jeremiah was a prophet to Judah, the southern half of ancient Israel. The northern half, which kept the name Israel, had already fallen to the Assyrians. Jeremiah spent his time warning that the same fate awaited Judah unless they mended their ways. The problem for Jeremiah (as for most prophets) was that nobody in Judah was listening to him. They assumed that because they had the temple in Jerusalem, nothing bad could happen to them even if they were behaving badly. God, after all, wouldn’t let anyone come and knock down his house, would he? Continue reading Day 54: Trusting in the blessing or the One who blesses?

Cover to cover: Isaiah 13:5-28:13 Key Passage: Isaiah 25:1-9 Verse of the Day: Isaiah 25:9 Key events in today’s reading: Prophecies about the nations (Isaiah 13-21) Prophecy about Jerusalem (Isaiah 22) The Lord defeats the kings of the earth (Isaiah 24) Isaiah praises the Lord (Isaiah 25) Verse that stood out: At that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take … Continue reading Day 50: Stripped down preaching