Jeremiah’s Request
Open Your Bible
Jeremiah 13:1-27, Jeremiah 14:1-22, Psalm 25:7, 2 Peter 2:1-3
BY Rebecca Faires
I just couldn’t get past the dirty underwear in today’s reading. I kept trying to be a grownup, and look for the big picture to find the deeper meaning. But picturing a venerable and vulnerable Jeremiah wedging underwear between rocks down by the river is a tough image to get past. I looked for other translations for the underwear and found: linen belt, loincloth, waistband, sash, girdle, undergarment, and linen shorts.
Now, I love a breathable fabric just as much as anyone, but no matter how you slice it, it’s an intimate garment that’s been trashed. And it’s a metaphor for how the Lord has brought His people close and they turned out to be of no use, and rather an embarrassment, actually (Jeremiah 13:8–11). They’d refused to obey, fought among themselves, and had become proud, forgetting the Lord and trusting in lies instead (v.25). This is a picture of a people who have failed to heed the Lord’s warning to listen to Him in humility, confess their transgressions, and cry out for mercy (Jeremiah 13:15;14:7). The people of Judah had run after the idolatries of the world, rather than the treasures of the kingdom.
It’s a short step to confess that I am guilty of these same sins. All our hearts are idol factories, turning our gaze and affection toward lesser things. Apart from the tender mercies and the arresting grace of God, we will go the way of Israel and Judah, for even our very finest righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
The startling realization that we are a little like dirty underwear down by the river is the first step to healing. The Lord invites His people to confess their sins and put on the clean garment of His salvation (1 John 1:9). We are called to recognize with David and with Paul that “all have turned away; all alike have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:12). But we are not invited to sit and fixate on the filthiness and neediness of humanity. Instead, like Jeremiah, we are to cry out, “Are you not the LORD our God? We therefore put our hope in you” (Jeremiah 14:22).
Hope! We are called to put our hope in the Lord. This was such good news for Judah because they were certainly in a centuries-long snit of their own making. And this is beautiful news for us, too, because we are guilty of the same embarrassing rejections of God’s goodness and kindness toward us. This peculiar passage echoes that same gospel that the prophet Isaiah declared: “We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished him for the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Though the first note of the gospel is our great guilt, the final note is one of resounding hope, and of praise for the undeserved lovingkindness God shows us.
Rebecca Faires loves the gospel story and needs it every morning when she wakes up to her six little people. Rebecca holds a bachelor’s degree in German from Hillsdale College, and most recently worked as the managing editor and writer at She Reads Truth. She now works from her log cabin in the hills of Tennessee, writing and illustrating books with her favorite mountain man. There she enjoys porch-sitting as it rains, reading the Oxford English Dictionary, and getting in way over her head. Her first book, The Book of Comforts: Genuine Encouragement for Hard Times, was released in March 2019.
48 thoughts on "Jeremiah’s Request"
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I can have an anger problem. I hear the lies told by our culture and I see false idols being followed. I see foolish people lauded as “being woke” and I just want to scream. Quite frankly, I want to tell them off and write them off because they don’t get it and they don’t care. The Gospel is presented and yet minds remain closed and hearts hardened. I weary of repeating what to me is the obvious, that they are on a path of destruction yet they shrug their shoulders. I understand Jeremiah’s frustration and I understand the reasoning behind God’s just plan. Truly it’s all a bit maddening to get up everyday and go to my knees to pray for this lost world. It’s only because I know the Truth of heaven and hell that I persist in prayer. God doesn’t want anyone to perish and neither do I. So I take a deep breath and turn my gaze upon Jesus, ever merciful and full of grace. He was so torwards me and so He will be to any other one who turns to Him. So… I will try to not get weary in interceding for the lost and I will ask that my feelings of anger be changed to acts of love done in His name. For that is how we are to be known, by our love, not our frustration, anger or judgmentalism. He forgave me. He spared me from hell. I was once them but for the grace of God, I am no longer. Yet… I am still them in my repeated sins and yet He forgives. Time to pray for myself. I see need for an attitude change. More gratitude, less arrogance. More humble gazing upon Jesus.
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I’m right there with you Churchmouse. How dare I lose patience or judge those who seem not to care about the Lord? I was “them” once, & am not now only by the grace of God. And even now I am not without sin & in need of His ongoing forgiveness. Help me Father, to keep a right attitude towards those you love (everyone), & an honest appraisal of myself. Amen
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Churchmouse I love your honesty. Thank you for reminding me/us to keep on living our lives for the One True God. “More gratitude, less arrogance. More humble gazing upon Jesus.”
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You have a way with words. Thank you for sharing your heart with us.
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Thanks Maus I needed that! ;-)
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Yes, it had to have been very difficult for Jeremiah to keep going in the face of that culture. I see it in my 5th grade classroom and pray for my students and their families. It is so tough. But we must press on.
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Beautiful truth and admonition. Thank you for sharing!
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❤️
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Acts of obedience on the part of the Israelites on rings so loud and clear to me throughout Jeremiah. Obedience is important to God and was for their benefit…for our benefit. Even Jeremiah was being called to a level of obedience…regardless of how strange the request (linen underwear, not praying for his fellow people who were about to be doomed) It made me ponder am I obedient to what God is asking of me, even if it seems out of the ordinary to my own understanding? Even the answer to my prayer seems contrary to what I prayed for?
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Jeremiah 13:17 “But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.” – Almighty God loves us SO MUCH that He weeps because of our pride, or any sin that allows His flock to be taken captive. Just rest in that for a little bit. My understanding of His love for us just keeps expanding. Oh Lord, I don’t want to make You weep, I long to bring honor to You.
Jeremiah 14:7 and 9b”Though our iniquities testify against us, Lord, act for your name’s sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against you…Yet you are among us, Lord, and we bear your name. Don’t leave us!” How great is the Father’s love towards us, He does not leave us in our sin. It is that blessed love that brings us to repentance and offers a way of redemption through Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 14:22b “Are you not the Lord our God? We therefore put our HOPE in you, for you have done all these things.” Matt Redmond from He Reads Truth today says, “Jeremiah’s eyes are fixed on the reality of God and not just the misery and ruin and sin all around him.”
Lost and captive without You.
Forgiven through You.
Living loved and full of hope in You.
Amen -
Brenna, you hit a nerve with me. My
prayers are most always “me” focused! And at this time I definitely need to look outward with my prayers. Our country, our world needs intercessory prayers right now. Thank you for sharing! -
Thank you Brenna Lee I am going to change my mind set from me to we. Hat an eye opened.i am praying that way right now.
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This is something I need to remember: It’s a short step to confess that I am guilty of these same sins. All our hearts are idol factories, turning our gaze and affection toward lesser things. Apart from the tender mercies and the arresting grace of God, we will go the way of Israel and Judah, for even our very finest righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Even my finest righteousness is a filthy rag. I heard a pastor say or I read that we would be like a menstrual rag. That is quite a visual, and one that should take away pride. Even my best is trash compared to the acts of a Holy God. Please, God give me eyes to see You properly and give You honor and glory you deserve. Please give me eyes to see myself how You see me and others. You love us and gave Your Son, but you resist the proud. Help me to see rightly and live in awe of You! Help me to lead others to You and not away in Jesus’ Name Amen.
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What stood out to me the most in this passage, is the role of the prophet. Jeremiah received a Word From the Lord to declare over God’s people and then over time, Jeremiah is pleading and requesting God’s mercy for the Israelite people. How often is my pleading for repentance or even my prayers in general so individualistic and “me” focused? ALL OF THE TIME! Lately. I’m encouraged to broaden my prayers for corporate repentance. Praying and pleading on behalf of my family, my neighborhood, my city, my country, my world. ❤️
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Oh Lord Jesus I thank you for Your giving of Your most precious, holy Self that You left the glories of heaven to come to earth as a wholly human, wholly GOD baby born of a virgin so that you would die on a vicious cross for the sole purpose of taking my and the whole earths sins upon yourself so that God our Father whose wrath was upon us as we all are sinners would be satisfied by Your ultimate sacrifice of Yourself in order that I and all others who believe in You might not perish but find peace in you and receive everlasting life.
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