Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"And do you seek great things for yourself?"
Text: Jeremiah 45:5
BARUCH’S ROOT PROBLEM
Baruch actually had a deeper problem. The LORD identified this problem for Jeremiah to address.
“Thus you shall say to him,
‘Thus says the LORD:
‘Behold, what I have built I will break down,
and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land.
And do you seek great things for yourself?
Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,’ says the LORD.
‘But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.””
Jeremiah 45:4-5
1. “Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land’’”
a) This solemn word of truth was to be taught to Baruch.
b) The Sovereignty of God is to be comprehended.
i) What the LORD has built, He can also break down.
ii) What the LORD has planted, He can also pluck up.
c) The larger reference:
i) To the land of Israel,
ii) It was God who had built and planted the nation of Israel.
iii) But the nation had rejected the LORD.
iv) It was within His sovereign right to uproot the whole nation and to cause its destruction!
2. “And do you seek great things for yourself?”
a) Baruch had personal ambitions.
b) He sought great things for himself.
c) Jeremiah was a renown prophet.
d) Baruch sought greatness for himself.
3. “‘Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,’ says the LORD”
a) He was advised not to seek great things for himself.
b) God was going to bring adversity to all flesh in Israel.
c) His personal ambitions would be dashed!
4. “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go”
a) A great gift would be Life itself.
b) The wicked would be punished with death.
c) Baruch, having been faithful, would be spared from death.
d) The preservation of his life would be a prize in itself.
e) This promise of a preserved life would apply, wherever he decided to go.