“And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.” ~ Jeremiah 1:16
The time has come. Judah will not repent. God has sent prophets with warnings, visions, and promises of future destruction. God has offered hope and healing if the people will repent and turn away from the world and idolatry, and place their trust in Him. The people of Judah have not listened. Their hearts have grown hard, and their lives have become full of evil and violence. Sin has become “normal, and obedience has become oppressive. The people want to do what is right in their own eyes. Judah wants to set her own standards and live by her own rules. God has told His people over and over that this is a path that leads to destruction. When sin reigns, relationships are broken, the heart is darkened, the hands do violence, and the mind thinks of evil. Something has to happen. This can’t be allowed to continue. Man needs a better way to live. Judah needs to wake up and see the destruction that comes from sin.
God has to move in the lives of His people to stop the sin that has invaded their lives. Jeremiah shows us the heart of God as he walks the roads of Judah and Jerusalem. His call goes unanswered. His warnings are unheeded. Now is the time for judgment. God has deemed that it is time to intervene in a drastic way. Babylonian captivity will wake the people of God up to the reality that sin destroys.
God’s judgment is not a harsh response to a momentary lapse of obedience. It is the response that comes after every other means has been tried. With the destruction of the land, Jerusalem, and the temple, the people will see that sin has already taken their promise, their identity, and their worship. They will get a chance to repent. God’s grief over this time of judgment is seen clearly in the Book of Lamentations. No one grieves more over sin that God Himself. Judgment comes to those who choose to reject God. But God still calls.
| Date | Snapshot Reading | Full Reading |
| May 31 | Jeremiah 9:1-26 | Jeremiah 1-9 |
| June 1 | Jeremiah 13:1-27 | Jeremiah 10-17 |
| June 2 | Jeremiah 18:1-23 | Jeremiah 18-26 |
| June 3 | Jeremiah 32:1-44 | Jeremiah 27-34 |
| June 4 | Jeremiah 35:1-19 | Jeremiah 35-43 |
| June 5 | Jeremiah 52:1-34 | Jeremiah 44-52 |
| June 6 | Lamentations 3:1-66 | Lamentations 1-5 |
| June 7 | Ezekiel 2:1-10 | Ezekiel 1-7 |