<==== Back to Menu<== Back to Week 19Proceed to week 21 ==>


Week 20
Day 1
(Originally posted Sunday, May 11, 2014)

Overview Jeremiah 20:1-18 - "Dealing With Pashhur's Aggression". As we suffer through chapter 20 with Jeremiah this week, let's keep in mind that he was doing what God told him to do! And so it may go with us as well. We can take it.
Day 2
(Originally posted Monday, May 12, 2014)

Jeremiah 20:1-6 - "Holy Roller Vs. Holy *STEAM*Roller". Imagine a powerful though misguided minister in a church whose dad is chairman of the Building And Grounds Committee; that's Pashhur. Pashhur sees what Jeremiah has been doing as a disruption and distraction to his business in the Temple. So when he has Jeremiah apprehended, held and beaten, he's asserting his authority as priest. The fact that Jeremiah is released the next day shows that Passhur or someone above Pashhur believed the move to be rash.
Now imagine a weird PK who says God talks to him, and it's mostly bad news, and God's hand is on him; that's Jeremiah. Magor-Missabib means "TerrorOnEverySide". What just happened there is better understood by us if we can imagine Jeremiah telling Pashhur, "Yahweh says your name is mud." We get that.
And he would continue, "You, mud, are going to lose everything you value. Slowly."
Day 3
(Originally posted Tuesday, May 13, 2014)

Jeremiah 20:7-10 - "I Quit! Wait, I CAN'T Quit!!". As we read today's portion, let's realize that with the conflict he's just come out of with Pashhur, Jeremiah's ministry has just been taken to a whole new level of real. He wants to quit, but the message that Yahweh had put on his heart cannot be silenced. He is compelled to continue down any road the Lord leads him, at any cost to himself. So shall we be.
Day 4

(Originally posted Wednesday, May 14, 2014)

Jeremiah 20:11-12 - "The Skycoaster, part 3 of 5". If you ever go to a theme park, you might see a ride called the Skycoaster or one like it. You might actually have a go, and if you did, it might be the worst and best experience you have that day. Here's why: you get strapped into a harness attached to a cable, hoisted into the air about 200 feet and then dropped like the end of a pendulum about 194 feet. The first half of this experience is terrifying, the last half exhilarating, and there's this moment in the middle... More on that tomorrow.
Our readings this week collectively are like that Skycoaster experience. Part one was being strapped in and hoisted and taken to a new level, part two was the release and freefall from 200 feet down to about 6 feet. Today's verses signal a change, the upswing, a resurgence in Jeremiah, a sense that he knows who he is and Whose he is.

Day 5

(Originally posted Thursday, May 15, 2014)

Jeremiah 20:13 - "The Skycoaster, part 4 of 5". Today's reading is just the one verse. We can read it together. It's a great one:
"Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh!
For He has delivered the soul of the needy one
From the hand of evildoers."
Now, if you find yourself in a theme park, and you find yourself about to have a go on this Skycoaster ride, or one like it, the attendants give you instructions as they harness you in. They tell you to extend your arms as you reach the top of the arc, as this will create a bit of lift, and keep you at the top of that arc a bit longer. Why do you want that?
Well, remember swinging on swings? We wanted to go as high as we could, what a rush. That was maybe 6 feet in the air from 2 feet. When it's 200 feet from 6 feet, everything is magnified; you could be hanging at the top for 4 or 5 seconds.

I did it with my eyes closed, and for that eternal moment in the sky at zero gravity, with arms extended, I felt like a kid held in his Father's giant hand. That was 16 or 17 years ago for me, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
In our lives in Christ, we have days of tumult and challenge when going His way in a wayward world. We get glimpses of His place reserved for us, and we want to be there forever right now. That's where Jeremiah is--at the top of the swing.

Day 6
(Originally posted Friday, May 16, 2014)

Jeremiah 20:14-18 - "The Skycoaster, part 5 of 5" or "A Beautiful Letdown". After that wonderful high on the theme park ride, we have to come back down to earth.
To get the full impact of Jeremiah's words that we read today requires at least an understanding of what he experienced in verse 13, which we read yesterday. Being totally enraptured, or caught up, in the presence of God makes everything else we experience seem less than what it was before.
Being blessed with God's presence carries a burden we don't anticipate: His greatness, His resplendent glory observed, inevitably causes us to see us as we are, our true selves, our hideous hiddenness that is highlighted by His inner light.
It's what caused Peter to say, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" in Luke 5 when he saw Jesus' greatness. It's what caused Paul to call himself somewhere the chief of sinners. It is what is behind Jeremiah's words here. It is deep in the heart of every Christian. We want to be home.
Day 7
(Originally posted Saturday, May 17, 2014)

Review Jeremiah 20:1-18 and REST in this comfort:
Bottom line it takes a God to help us take a shove,
A pull that gives hurt to Him our Gift to summit up.


<==== Back to Menu<== Back to Week 19Proceed to week 21 ==>