Back then we had plenty to eat, and no harm came to us. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of heaven and pouring out our drink offerings to her, we've not had enough of anything. Besides that, we are being finished off by war and famine.
Observation
The queen of heaven was a Babylonian title Ishtar; whose worship involved acts of immorality (Halley's Bible Handbook). Even after all the prophecies that Jeremiah had spoken had come true, the Judean's still refuse to repent and be obedient to God. They are blinded by pride and selfishness. Jeremiah is still persecuted because the Judean's only want to hear the words that will allow their sinful lifestyle to continue.
Application
I was initially dumbfounded when reading these verses, because I was thinking " how could the Judean's be so stupid". It didn't take long for the Holy Spirit to show me His truth in passages. We are all that stupid when we measure success or failure based on external circumstances. The Judean's measured success on lack of war and famine. That is not how God measures it. He very often uses difficult external circumstances to create success within in us. These verses are a great reminder to me, that whether things are going great or they are going poorly, I need to ask God for His truth and follow His direction. I am not to rely one the way things appear to me. Isaiah 11 says And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; this is who Jesus is and who God is making me to be.
Prayer
Father, I am so grateful that my success is not defined by external circumstances or my performance, but by Your righteousness that covers me. I ask that You be more in me, and I be less.
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