Vivid images

God tells Jeremiah to buy a linen belt and to wear it without wetting it. That way it will not be softened and he will be aware that he is wearing it. Then he is to go and bury it in the crevice in the rocks. When he goes back for it, it will be ruined, for a belt is to be worn, not hidden. God’s people are to be kept close like a belt – close to God – but they keep wandering off. They are not fulfilling the role they were created for. And so they are useless. Ruined.

“For as a belt is bound round the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,” declares the Lord, “to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.”  Jeremiah 13:11

In the same way, the role of a wineskin is to be filled with wine. Just as the role of the people is to be filled with the spirit of God. And because they are not, they are going to have to be thrown aside like useless wineskins.

It’s all about pride. All about being so arrogant as to believe they can do it all without God.

Another vivid – and in part familiar – image –

Can an Ethiopian change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.  Jeremiah 13:23

Not one of us can bring about lasting change on our own. God can see what is going on under the surface, even if no one else can.

There will come a time of drought famine and sword.

Drought where there is no water. No refreshment. No life.

And then famine. Because without water, there is no food. The people will call on God for help, but He will know they’re only doing it because they are desperate and not because they really mean it.

Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.  Jeremiah 14:12

It may seem harsh, but God knows best. We have to believe that and trust that.

There are prophets around Jeremiah who are promising that all will be well. Of course, the people are going to want to listen to those rather than Jeremiah. Rather like now – we can always find people sharing the lies that we want to hear – that there is no such thing as climate change, that it’s time to make Britain Great again, that looking good is the same as feeling good etc…..

I guess bad times are the times when faith is really tested. When those who trust and obey God will stand firm, while the others will turn on God in anger and resentment because He is not doing what they want or what they feel they deserve. Trust is about believing God will deliver when it doesn’t seem right now that He is. Believing God is love when He is allowing horrible things to happen to us. Believing God knows best when all the evidence seems to the contrary. Believing following God’s ways is best when other people seem to be having a so much better time without Him.

Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is you, Lord our God.
Therefore our hope is in you,
for you are the one who does all this.  Jeremiah 14:22

Our hope is in you alone.