Jeremiah 16

God calls Jeremiah to a life without family, mourning, and merriment. It seems that Jeremiah is going to be spending a lot of time alone. This was to be a sign to the people, but I have to wonder if it wasn't to ultimately spare the prophet great pain. Considering the trouble that would have come if Jeremiah had married, then his family would have probably been killed, and most likely not by the Babylonians but by his own people. God is sparing Jeremiah this.

This reminds me of the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:21b "But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this." During times of persecution and hardship, having a family makes things more difficult. For us today, it isn't a sin to have families, but there are hardships involved with having them, especially during times of persecution. To say it another way, it would be easier for you to lay down your life than to watch your children killed in front of you. This isn't something that happened long ago or in some scary post-apocalyptic future, but in the last few years. Yet, God gives grace to those who face this, but it is still horrible. 

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Ruth 2

 In verse 12, there is a reference to Ruth not only choosing to go with her mother-in-law, but also choosing to follow the God of Israel. The problem that God had with the people of Israel intermarrying with the nations around them wasn't racial purity, but religious purity. Like today, people marry and don't consider the religious background of the person they marry. However, once the marriage has happened, there is often a compromise in the area of faith. God didn't want that for his people. The reason Ruth was acceptable for marriage in this book was that she had embraced the God of Israel and forsook the gods of her family.   

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1 Corinthians 13

 

This is off the main point of the chapter, but in the first verse, it makes the claim that no matter how lofty the words of men or angels without love, they are worthless. This verse has been used by those who claim to speak in tongues, suggesting that if the “tongues” spoken, whether in prayer or worship, are not a known language, they are speaking in a heavenly or angelic tongue. The problem is that it isn’t the point of this verse. This verse isn’t proof that angelic tongues were or are a part of Christian worship. It is saying if we could speak with an angelic tongue, which most assuredly would be greater than our language, it gains us nothing if we don’t have love. 

Saying that this verse proves men speak in angelic languages is on the level of someone saying God is a chicken because the psalmist says that God covers us with his feathers. 

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Proverbs 16

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death"(verse 25). Not every proverb in this chapter can be summed up by this verse, but it is frequently seen that our ways don't work and we need to lean into God and His wisdom. What is clear in this chapter and throughout the book of Proverbs is that God and God's wisdom are the only good way to live, and ultimately, those who forsake that way end up failing. Let's choose God's way. 

Judges 16

When movies are made of Samson, they pick a big, muscular man, a person who could play Hercules (yes, someone like Kevin Sorbo). The problem with this is that if that were true, then everyone would know where his strength came from. Samson probably looked more like Jimmy Olsen than Superman. Also, at the beginning of this chapter, Samson, twenty years later, is still doing impossible stuff. (He's also still doing stupid, but that seems to be the norm for him.). He was a truly unlikely hero, or else they wouldn't have been so intent on finding his strength. What they never stopped to consider was that it came from God, but considering his lifestyle, why would they? It's a sad commentary on his life that the Philistines never understood that it was God they needed to fear. 

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Judges 15

Samson didn't think about the consequences of his actions. We see that throughout his life, but especially here, as he didn't realize what would happen if he deserted his wife, what would happen when he burned the fields, what would happen when he killed Philistines for the death of his wife, or the disobedience in taking up a jawbone of a dead animal. Once it was all done, and God was faithful in his foolishness, the closest thing we get to a thanks or a praise is during a complaint to God that sounds more like accusing God of cruelty; you gave victory, but let me die of thirst. 

I'll say it again: don't be like this. 

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Jeremiah 15

 

As chapter 15 ends, God is speaking to Jeremiah about where he is. Jeremiah hasn't been happy with what God is doing, and now we see in verse 19 that God is telling Jeremiah to return to him. One may wonder, isn't Jeremiah the prophet, and does he have to return to God? What happened? What may be going on is the same thing that happens in our lives today. Disappointments and Despair push us from God, and seeing his will. What Jeremiah and we have to do is get in the place where we are submitting to God's will. When this happens, God can and will use us.  

An interesting note in verse 19 is that God tells Jeremiah that he shouldn't turn to the people but wait until they turn to him. This carries the idea that Jeremiah shouldn't react to them in their ways but wait until they come to him, or as the Pulpit commentary says, "They shall come over to thy side, and thou shalt not need to make humiliating advances to them. Jeremiah 15:19*"

*The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 by BibleSoft, inc. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/jeremiah/15.htm accessed 7/23/25.

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