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Jeremiah who told God¡¯s word with tears
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¡°Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night for the slain
of my people. ¡°
(Jeremiah 9:1)
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The north Israelites were
fallen to Assyria because they praised idols rather than worshiping the only
true God.
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But even worst was Judah of the South, because even they saw how the north Israelites had fallen yet they
never repented of their sin. They also praised idols which God hates the
most.
All over Israel, Idol worship became more and more popular until almost all of the Israelites were
spending all they had to get more idols.
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5
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But in front of God, they
acted as if nothing was wrong.
They pretended to be a
good worshiper by coming to the temple and giving offerings to God. But they
did those things just for prevention from bad things happening to them.
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So God chose Jeremiah as
a prophet to warn the Israelites about
what they were doing and
to deliver God`s words.
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Jeremiah started to tell
God`s word:
¡°God doesn`t like the way
you are worshiping with bad intentions. You people are worshiping idols that
God hates and God knows all about those things.
God has said if you don`t
stop these doings, He will not help us.
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¡°You people think God
will save us from those Babylonians but God has promised about those things. And
instead of helping your people he will punish your people. God has said
you will only be able to save your life if you surrender to the Babylonians.
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9
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When the priest heard
what Jeremiah said they got angry¡¯ ¡°What in the world is he saying? We are a
people of God and how can we surrender to Babylon?
He is a man who will sell
our country to Babylon!¡±
And they started to hate
Jeremiah because of this.
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Especially the head of
the priests, Priest Pashhur slapped Jeremiah`s face when he was saying that
prophecy.
And he put Jeremiah in
prison.
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On the next day, Pashhur
released Jeremiah from prison.
But Jeremiah never got
afraid of Pashhur and he started to tell God`s word again to Israelites.
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¡°You and your family will
be taken to Babylon. You will die there and be buried underground. All your
friends will have the same punishment as you because they gave false
prophecies and delivered wrong words of God.¡±
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Jeremiah told the
prophecy in many places. But nobody believed in Jeremiah because they didn`t
like what he was talking about.
They said bad words to
him and they considered him like a crazy person.
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The people of Israelites
followed the words of the false prophets.
¡°Everyone, don`t worry a
single thing. God will save us from Babylon.
He will raise us from the
hand of our enemy.¡±
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Jeremiah cried and told
God.
¡°Father, nobody tries to
listen to what I`m saying. And they say bad things about me. I`m also afraid
to keep telling this message, but I can`t give up!¡±
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Jeremiah`s eyes didn`t
stop to give tears.
And when he knew God will
punish his people, he became even sadder.
He tried his best to
convince and make even one person come back to God`s side with a broken heart
and with tears.
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Jeremiah was a prophet
with a brave soul and truly a loving heart.
He was a prophet with a
brave heart that was never afraid to tell the words of God. And, also he was
a prophet of love who truly deplored his people who wouldn`t repent and go
back to God`s side.
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We also need to be like
Jeremiah.
When you have a brave
heart to tell the word of God to others and feel sad for the friend who will
go to hell and pray for them, you will surely be like Jeremiah.
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