They said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let's attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says." – Jeremiah 18:18

Today's Scripture Reading (July 15, 2026): Jeremiah 18

For generations, historians have fought over the character of Richard III of England. For some, Richard III is accurately summed up by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare described Richard III as an ambitious man who was jealous of his older brother, King Edward IV, and his success. Historians have accused Richard of being guilty of fratricide, blaming him for the death of his brother and his nephews Edward V, who was around 13 years of age when he disappeared, as well as the disappearance and supposed murder of Edward V's younger brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. The young boys have been dubbed the "Princes of the Tower" by historians because the Tower of London was the last place where we know they were housed. No one really knows what happened to the young princes after their admission to the Tower following the death of their Father.

But that is not the only picture that we have of Richard III. Other historians have seen the third King Richard as a fiercely loyal man who would never consider killing his older brother, of whom he was deeply proud, let alone the murder of his young nephews. According to this group of historians, Richard was the victim of a propaganda campaign carried out by the House of Tudor, which sought to end the reign of the House of York, of which Edward and Richard were members. These historians remind us that the victors often write history; in this case, the House of Tudor won the fight, and as a result, the reign of the House of York was not only ended but also tarnished.

We may never know the truth about King Richard III, which might be proof of the effectiveness of the lies that our enemies can tell about us. It was a truth that Jeremiah knew firsthand. Jeremiah carried an unfortunate message, one the nation didn't want to hear. Jeremiah's critics hoped the prophet was wrong. Early in Jeremiah's career, his opponents had already chosen their offensive response. They were going to speak lies about Jeremiah and discredit him. The hope was that if lies took hold, his words would lose their strength, and the people would no longer listen to him. And maybe, their lies would also change the bleak future that Jeremiah was predicting. Basically, his opponents planned to accuse Jeremiah of being a false prophet, hoping that this accusation, which the religious officials of Jerusalem had thought up, would end up being true.

Jeremiah knew of their plot and had decided that the problem was not his; it was the problem of the one who had given him his vision of the future. Jeremiah was confident in his God. If he were a false prophet, it would not be because the officials of Jerusalem had labeled him as one, but because he had misread the movement of his God. But, once again, history is written by the victors, and in this case, the victor was Jeremiah. His prediction proved true, and history has remembered his opponents as the liars.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 19

 

Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. – Jeremiah 17:14

Today's Scripture Reading (July 14, 2026): Jeremiah 17

As a kid, I loved superhero shows. I loved the "Adventures of Superman" with George Reeves (although I have to admit that I am too young actually to remember the original run of the 1950s TV series; I had to be content with the reruns of the show more than a decade after the last episode of the series was shot), and I was infatuated with Adam West in "Batman." (For those who might be wondering about my "Spiderman" addiction, both George Reeves and Adam West predate my "Spiderman" days.) So, when I was still too young to go to school, one of my favorite activities was to grab a towel, pin it around my shoulders, and pretend that I was one of the heroes I had watched on television.

Looking back, I still love my superheroes, though I hope I now have a much more balanced view of the role models of my youth. But one thing I have noticed is that the characters in the shows of my youth were fixated on the stories' heroes. In Gotham City, when trouble struck, it was not Marines who were called in to handle the situation; it wasn't the S.W.A.T. Team or even extra off-duty police officers who were requested to come to the rescue. The first response was to run to the roof and activate the "Bat Signal," calling the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder into the situation. No one else would do. And in the "Adventures of Superman," Lois Lane never called for the police when she was in trouble; Lois simply whispered the name of her hero, Superman. There was no one else who could do the job, not even the pining Clark Kent who wanted nothing more than to hear Lois call his name. But as far as Lois was concerned, no one but Superman was able to come to her rescue.

Jeremiah has also fixated on his hero, God. In the midst of Judah's trouble, Jeremiah and the officials of the nation held a deep mistrust of each other, and of the enemy about to appear on the doorstep of the city in which he lived. As a result, there really was no other authority to whom the Prophet could run. If Jeremiah was going to be healed, there was no one else who could heal him. If Jeremiah was going to be saved, the only name that could be whispered was that of his God. And the same was true for the land of Judah.

Most of us who grew up with our Superheroes have watched them tarnish over time. At some point, we found out that the Bat Signal only works in Gotham City, and Lois is the only one whom Superman seems to hear. George Reeves and Adam West have both lost their races against a speeding bullet. But the God of Jeremiah remains. He is still the only one who can heal and save.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 18

… but it will be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors. – Jeremiah 16:15

Today's Scripture Reading (July 13, 2026): Jeremiah 16

In science fiction, cloning is a bad idea, not because of any moral considerations, but because of a buildup of errors in the cloning process. The idea is that no clone is truly identical; errors exist in the DNA code that can eventually threaten the cloned organism. Therefore, given the science-fiction understanding of cloning, the best we can accomplish in the cloning process is an imperfect copy of the original. A clone of a clone increases the genetic mistakes. Every mistake might be small, but over several generations, the clone would no longer be viable, or, at least, the clone wouldn't be healthy.

But that is only in science fiction. Except that it isn't. The way science fiction depicts the cloning process is a pretty accurate description of the normal reproductive process. Our kids may get what is right about us, but invariably they seem also to take what is wrong about us. Over time (and generations), families seem to begin to mirror what is wrong more than they get what is right. We wish that it were the reverse and that they would pick up our good characteristics, but it doesn't seem to work that way.

And I think that is precisely God's message to Jeremiah. The way things are going is only going to get worse. Your fathers rebelled, you rebelled more, and the next generation will only rebel more. Your only hope is that someone will break the cycle.

So, God gives this message to Jeremiah: I will be the one who will break the cycle. I will restore them to the place where I intended them to be. No longer will they only speak of the God that brought them out of Egypt; I will be the God who brought them out of the land in the North – I will bring them out of Babylon, as well.

We sometimes think that we have everything together in our lives. But the truth is that we are still just children in need of restoration. This need for recovery is the reason why family religion doesn't work. We need one who will come in, break the cycle, and restore us. And God is still the one who restores.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17

Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. – Jeremiah 15:19

Today's Scripture Reading (July 12, 2026): Jeremiah 15

In 2017, President Donald Trump’s then White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, summed up his understanding of his job quite well before the White House Press Corps. The question that was posed was “What do you think about the (fill in the blank with the subject matter of the day)?” Spicer’s response was basically “It is not my job to tell you what I think; it is my job to tell you what the President thinks.” The tactic has become a normal one for the press. Donald Trump says something that bends the limits of their credulity, and the question to Trump supporters and employees is “Can you believe that? Do you agree with the President?” And the way that the question is asked leads us to believe that a negative response is expected. “You can’t honestly agree with the point of view of the President?” Spicer’s response reiterates that from the podium, he speaks what the President would have him speak. His job is to understand the President's mind, answer questions, and provide information from the President's perspective. When Sean Spicer or any other White House Press Secretary speaks, we should hear the voice of the President currently in office. Spicer was right. As much as we would all love to hear him say that he agrees or disagrees with the Presidential position, that is simply not his job. His job is to speak with the voice of the President.

As Christians, we have the same expectation placed on us. We talk with the mind of God. The expectation is that we would be in tune with what the Bible says and speak with the voice of the one who inspired the writing of these ancient words. This ideal is what has led some of us within the church to feel disappointment and even betrayal at words spoken in recent days by influential Christians like Franklin Graham. Some believe that the words being spoken, words that have seemed to go back and forth from, at the very least, indifference, to at times hate, are not flowing from the mind of Christ. The words are not influenced by the one who taught us that ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’ (Matthew 25:40). Sometimes it seems that the focus of many influential Christian leaders is on remaining “a friend of the President” rather than speaking the heart of God.

God reminds Jeremiah that this is his task. He is to speak words worthy of the Creator of the World. He is to know the Creator’s heart and speak what is worthy of him. As long as Jeremiah does that, then he will be God’s mouthpiece; His press secretary. But his words are worthless if they do not reflect the heart of the Creator; if this is the case, Jeremiah will be removed from his position.

Speaking the heart of God is what we are all called to do. It is not optional. What we (I) think is important really doesn’t matter. As Christians, we are the Press Secretaries of Heaven, and our opinions have become secondary to the voice of God speaking through our lives. And when we speak with his voice, we have the potential to change the world.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 16

The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water. They return with their jars unfilled; dismayed and despairing, they cover their heads. – Jeremiah 14:3

Today's Scripture Reading (July 11, 2026): Jeremiah 14

A recent news story revealed that people are moving away from the traditional white picket fence toward taller, more solid privacy fences. The idea is that we want more privacy in our yards than maybe we once did. It has been suggested that this need for privacy stems from our having lost the ability just to chat. I have lived in my house for over twenty years, and two of the three fences in my backyard have been replaced. The one that hasn't changed was already a six-foot wood privacy fence, which has been painted and maintained a few times over the years. Contemporary privacy fences are made from substances that don't require that same level of maintenance.

Which leaves me with the other two fences. Directly behind my house, a privacy fence was replaced with a chain link fence with privacy inserts installed. The current fence is a little shorter, but still built with privacy in mind. My neighbor also once had pillar poplars lining the fence. Those trees have been removed. We could communicate over the back fence, but rarely do.

The big change is with my last neighbor. When I first bought the house, there was no fence on that side of the property. My backyard and my neighbor's yard were connected, creating one larger grassy space. But my neighbor sold his house, and it was purchased by a wonderful lady who wanted to have a couple of dogs. So, a chain-link fence without the privacy inserts was built to keep the dogs, Cooper and Bear, on their side of the property. Admittedly, whenever the dogs got loose, they loved to come and inspect the space on the other side of the fence, often coming up to visit me on my deck. (They were great dogs, and I never had a problem with either one of them.) That is the fence story in my yard. And while we have had good communication with all of our neighbors, maybe neighbor communication is becoming less important. 

Jeremiah is telling a story. The wealthy in society would regularly send their servants out to fetch water. The servants arrive at the cistern, but there is no water. They return with empty jars, and in dismay, they cover their heads. It is that last phrase that sends a message we often miss. Water is essential for life, and it is often one of the easiest things to find. But the drought meant there was no water. The dismay that these families felt is probably natural. But that wasn't the extent of what these servants and their bosses felt. By covering their heads, they admitted they were confounded and ashamed. And it is that last emotion that amazes us the most. Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) responds this way to the noble's response to a lack of water.

On the back of that confusion came despair; 'they covered their heads.' The Orientals cover their heads when in the deepest grief, as David did, when he went over the brook Kedron. It means, 'I cannot face it. Do not look on me in my sorrow, nor expect me to look on you. I cover my head, for it is all over with me' (Charles Spurgeon).

In my shame, I need privacy. I won't build a fence, but I have no desire to talk to you. Instead, I will cover my head. Please ignore me and move on until my shame is relieved by the presence of water. Until that moment reveals itself, there really is nothing to say.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 15

This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water." – Jeremiah 13:1

Today's Scripture Reading (July 10, 2026): Jeremiah 13

It was a Christmas skit to be performed at the Annual Christmas banquet. At the time, I was the Associate Pastor for the church, but I was also very new at the position. The skit called for me to wear a pink, frilly tutu. (How they found one that I could fit into is still a bit of a mystery to me.) They gave me the tutu the night of the performance, and I remember squeezing myself into it before I had to take the stage. And yes, I looked ridiculous. But then, that was the point.

I remember the tutu, although I don't remember much else about the skit. I remember my boss had a role in the skit, although his mode of dress was much more dignified than mine. The skit was humorous, but much of the humor was me in the tutu.

If Jeremiah wore the traditional dress of a prophet, he would have been wearing a fairly tight-fitting tunic made out of a coarse material. Over top of this tunic, he would have worn a hair cloak. On the other side of the coin, the priests and the wealthy would wear a linen girdle or decorative belt around their waist, along with the finery that they could afford. God's instructions would have been to take the linen girdle that the more elite members of society might wear and place it around his waist, on top of the prophetic dress Jeremiah would normally wear. Combining the two would have made Jeremiah look as ridiculous as I did in a pink tutu that Christmas. But again, the spectacle was the point.

As Jeremiah appeared in Jerusalem, everyone would notice what the Prophet was wearing. But even more importantly, they would remember what Jeremiah was wearing. It would have been hard to forget. Likely, there was some good-natured, or maybe not so good-natured, ribbing over the way that Jeremiah looked. (Trust me, I remember the jokes I took over the tutu.) But all of this was the point.

The Prophet's ridiculous look was the beginning of a message, and if nobody noticed how Jeremiah was dressed, the message might have been missed. Sometimes, Prophets were more like that guy who stood on the cafeteria table with French fries up his nose than we might imagine. But somehow, they had to gain the attention of those around them before they could deliver the message God had placed on their hearts.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 14

The other events of Jehoiakim's reign, the detestable things he did and all that was found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king. – 2 Chronicles 36:8

Today's Scripture Reading (July 9, 2026): 2 Chronicles 36

All of us carry baggage from our growing-up years. And we all react to that baggage very differently. For some, that baggage is devastating. And it doesn't necessarily mean that we had terrible upbringings. Two siblings can react to the same home and the same situations in very different ways. As parents, all we can do is do our best and lift our children up in prayer daily.

Three of Josiah's sons would reign as kings over the land of Judah. But they did not ascend the throne in order of their ages. Eliakim, who reigned as Jehoiakim, was the oldest. Yet Eliakim was passed over after his father's death in favor of his younger brother, Jehoahaz. The proposed reasons for this vary. Some believe that Jehoahaz was simply the more popular of the brothers among the leaders in Judah. Others point out that Eliakim or Jehoiakim was simply unfit to lead the nation, and that his father and the leaders of Judah understood this when they made Jehoahaz king in 609 B.C.E.

Jehoiakim was an angry man. But when Egypt took his younger brother, the now King of Judah, Jehoahaz, into captivity only three months into his reign, the nation was forced to turn to the violent Eliakim as their king. There was another brother, but Zedekiah was still just a young boy when Jehoahaz was removed. Zedekiah would ascend to the throne and serve as the last king of Judah after the death of Jehoiakim and the Babylonians' removal of Jehoiakim's son, Jehoiachin.

After he became king, Jehoiakim wasted little time displaying that he was not his father's son. He overturned all of his father Josiah's reforms. Jehoiakim was a godless man who feared little other than the Babylonians, and even his respect for them was likely all show. He ruled Judah as a tyrant. He murdered everyone he didn't like, and Jerusalem was filled with the blood of the innocents (2 Kings 24:4). He maintained incestuous relationships with his mother and other women in the family. He seemed to regularly burn scrolls of scripture that he disagreed with or that he thought might hold him in an unflattering light. He even tried to reverse his Jewishness by restoring the foreskin stolen from him by his circumcision as a child.

And then, Jehoiakim died. That he died in 598 B.C.E. is really the only thing that we can say for certain. The book of Kings just says that he rested with his ancestors, and Chronicles says even less, indicating simply that his son, Jehoiachin, succeeded him. But the death of Jehoiakim was not likely peaceful. History and tradition differ on how the king died, but one common denominator is the gruesomeness of the King's demise. Some historians argue that Jehoiakim died in Jerusalem while the Sanhedrin deliberated on whether to hand the King over to the Babylonians. After his death, the leaders of Jerusalem unceremoniously threw his body over the wall to the waiting Babylonians to do as they saw fit with the former King of Judah.  

Another version of the death of Jehoiakim argues that he died after being lowered over the wall to the waiting Babylonians, possibly at the hands of the Babylonians themselves. Probably the most gruesome of the possible fates of Jehoiakim is that he was handed over to the Babylonians, where he was paraded in dishonor throughout the nation. When the tour had finished, the King was executed, and his body was either fed piece by piece to the dogs, or it was placed inside a dead donkey and left for the animals to devour.

At some point, it seems someone recovered the King's body and brought it back to Jerusalem. However, even there Jehoiakim found no rest. According to the ancient rabbinic writing, the Aggadah, Jehoiakim is still undergoing punishment for the great sin he committed against Jerusalem and Judah during his lifetime.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 13

See Also 2 Kings 24:6