Jeremiah 6

 Scripture – Jeremiah 6

Observation – 

• Jeremiah 6:1-15 - Warnings of judgment
• Jeremiah 6:1-5 - Disaster from the North
• Jeremiah 6:6-8 - A siege against Jerusalem
• Jeremiah 6:9-12 - The fury of the Lord
• Jeremiah 6:13-15 - The sins of the prophets and priests
• Jeremiah 6:16-20 - Wisdom is available but is rejected
• Jeremiah 6:16-17 - The opportunity for wisdom
• Jeremiah 6:18-20 - God tells the whole world what the result of the rejection of wisdom is
• Jeremiah 6:21-30 - Judgment is again described
• Jeremiah 6:21 - The stumbling blocks
• Jeremiah 6:22-26  - The terror of the coming judgment
• Jeremiah 6:27-30 - God's people will be judged like metal

I think verse 16-17 stands out to me the most. God says that the way is open and ready for all who come. But the people refuse to walk in it. When I read the bible, listen to the bible being preached, and even teaching it, I sometimes blurb over a part of it. For example, when the bible says to do something I don't prefer to do, I just gloss over it because I don't want to do it. This passage reminds me that the bible is open and ready for all, but you still have to take that path, or follow it yourself. 

Jeremiah 5

Scripture – Jeremiah 5

Observation – 

• Jeremiah 5:1-9 - Looking for a righteous man and finding none
• Jeremiah 5:1-2 - Looking for someone who seeks the truth
• Jeremiah 5:3 - Jeremiah's prayer
• Jeremiah 5:4-5 - Jeremiah's plan to appeal to Jerusalem
• Jeremiah 5:6-9 - The penalty for the rebellious city
• Jeremiah 5:10-19 - Prophets of wind, and prophets of fire
• Jeremiah 5:10-13 - Destruction without end
• Jeremiah 5:14-17 - The words of the prophet of fire
• Jeremiah 5:18-19 - The divine logic behind judgment
• Jeremiah 5:20-31 - A foolish people
• Jeremiah 5:20-25 - The foolishness of failing to learn from nature
• Jeremiah 5:26-29 - The wickedness of not caring for fellow man
• Jeremiah 5:30-31 - The false prophets and the people

Jeremiah 4

 Scripture – Jeremiah 4

Observation – 

• Jeremiah 4:1-4 - Repentance brings restoration
• Jeremiah 4:1-2 - Blessings to a repentant Israel
• Jeremiah 4:3-4 - Breaking up the unsoiled ground
• Jeremiah 4:5-13 - A vision of the coming judgment
• Jeremiah 4:5-8 - A description of the judgment
• Jeremiah 4:9 - The effect of the judgment
• Jeremiah 4:10 - Jeremiah considers the judgment and its nature
• Jeremiah 4:11-12 - The announcement of the judgment
• Jeremiah 4:13 - A vision of the judgment
• Jeremiah 4:14-31 - Appealing to those who will be judged
• Jeremiah 4:14-18 - An appeal to Jerusalem
• Jeremiah 4:19-21 - The anguish of Jeremiah's soul because of the judgment
• Jeremiah 4:22 - The condition of the people: stupid
• Jeremiah 4:23-26 - Jeremiah considers God's might
• Jeremiah 4:27-29 - The certainty of the judgment
• Jeremiah 4:30-31 - The futility of escaping

Preaching all this talk of judgment was definetly not easy for Jeremiah. God commanded him to speak words to the people about how they are going to be destroyed. This shows that the jobs that God gives aren't always going to be easy. But as I saw in the previous chapters, God will give you strength, and if he gives you a job, you need to do it. 

Jeremiah 3

 Scripture – Jeremiah 3

Observation – 

• Jeremiah 3:1-5 - The unfaithfullness of God's people
• Jeremiah 3:1 - God says, "return to me"
• Jeremiah 3:2 - The depth of their sin
• Jeremiah 3:3-5 - The penalty of sin and how they should have repented
• Jeremiah 3:6-17 - Judah called to return 
• Jeremiah 3:6-10 - God speaks about evil Judah and treacherous Israel
• Jeremiah 3:11-13 - God tells Jeremiah to invite Israel back
• Jeremiah 3:14-15 - Return and be restored
• Jeremiah 3:16-17 - Return and know the presence of the LORD
• Jeremiah 3:18-25 - Restoration to the land
• Jeremiah 3:18 - A promise of restoration
• Jeremiah 3:19-20 - The problem of restoring Israel
• Jeremiah 3:21-22 - The weeping of a repentant Israel
• Jeremiah 3:23-25 - The shame of idolatry results in repentance

Jeremiah 2

 Scripture – Jeremiah 2

Observation – 

• Jeremiah 2:1-12 - The asonishing nature of Israel's sin
• Jeremiah 2:1-3 - The good old days
• Jeremiah 2:4-8 - The ingratitude of rebellious Israel
• Jeremiah 2:9-12 - The astonishing nature of Israel's sin
• Jeremiah 2:13-37 - The shame of Israel's idolatry
• Jeremiah 2:13 - Broken cisterns
• Jeremiah 2:14-19 - God's people look to Egypt and Assyria rather than the Lord
• Jeremiah 2:20-25-  The pursuit of false gods
• Jeremiah 2:26-28  -The shame of Israel
• Jeremiah 2:29-32 - God will not listen to Israel
• Jeremiah 2:33-37 - Israel will be disappointed by the gods they trust in

Jeremiah 1

 Scripture –  Jeremiah 1

Observation – 

• Jeremiah 1:1-3 - The life of Jeremiah
• Jeremiah 1:1 - Jeremiah's background
• Jeremiah 1:2-3 - The time of Jeremiah
• Jeremiah 1:4-19 - The call and preparation of Jeremiah
• Jeremiah 1:4-5 - God's call to Jeremiah
• Jeremiah 1:6-10 - Jeremiah's objection
• Jeremiah 1:11-12 - Jeremiah's first lesson as a prophet
• Jeremiah 1:13-16 - Jeremiah's second lesson
• Jeremiah 1:17-19 - God commands Jeremiah to be steadfast

Isaiah 66

 Scripture – Isaiah 66

Observation – 

• Isaiah 66:1-6 - The Lord will repay his enemies
• Isaiah 66:1-2 - The greatness of God
• Isaiah 66:3-4 - God's answer to empty religiousness
• Isaiah 66:5-6 - The Lord repays his enemies
• Isaiah 66:7-24 - The Lord comes with fire
• Isaiah 66:7-11 - Rejoicing in the deliverance of Jerusalem
• Isaiah 66:12-17 - The Lord comes in judgment
• Isaiah 66:18-21 - The Lord gathers and restores his people
• Isaiah 66:22-24 - The certainty of both the judgment and the restoration of the Lord

Isaiah 64-65

 Scripture – Isaiah 64-65

Observation – 

• Isaiah 64:1-7 - Remember God's great works
• Isaiah 64:1-4 - God's people plead for Him to come in power
• Isaiah 64:5-7- Our great sinfulness
• Isaiah 64:8-12 - A plea for the mercy of God
• Isaiah 64:8-9 - Asking God to remember his people
• Isaiah 64:10-11 - Asking God to remember the condition of the people
• Isaiah 64:12 - Asking God to act
• Isaiah 65:1-16 - God will bless his servants
• Isaiah 65:1-7 - The Lord sees the shallow repentance of the people
• Isaiah 65:8-16 - A promise of blessing and a promise of punishment
• Isaiah 65:17-25 - God will redeem and remake creation
• Isaiah 65:17-19 - Promise of new heaven and new earth
• Isaiah 65:20-25 - The new state of the new earth

Isaiah 63

 Scripture – Isaiah 63

Observation – 

• Isaiah 63:1-6 - The day of vengeance
• Isaiah 63:1 - Who is this?
• Isaiah 63:2-6 - Why are your clothes red?
• Isaiah 63:7-19 - The exile's prayer
• Isaiah 63:7-14 - Remembering God's mercy and His might
• Isaiah 63:15-19 - A plea for restoration

Isaiah 61-62

Scripture – Isaiah 61-62

Observation – 

• Isaiah 61:1-3 - What the Messiah will do
• Isaiah 61:1a - The power of the Messiah's ministry
• Isaiah 61:1b-3 - The ministry of the Messiah 
• Isaiah 61:4-7 - What God's people will do
• Isaiah 61:4 - God's people will rebuild whats destroyed
• Isaiah 61:5-6 - God's people will be set apart
• Isaiah 61:7 - God's people will rejoice at God's blessing
• Isaiah 61:8-11 - What God will do
• Isaiah 61:8 - God's heart behind the covenant
• Isaiah 61:9 - The blessings of the covenant
• Isaiah 61:10-11 - The salvation of the covenant
• Isaiah 62:1-9 - Jerusalem is loved and protected
• Isaiah 62:1-3 - The coming glory and righteousness of Zion
• Isaiah 62:4-5 - The Lord loves Zion like a bride
• Isaiah 62:6-9 - The Lord promises to protect Zion
• Isaiah 62:10-12 - The Lord will visit Zion
• Isaiah 62:10 - A way prepared for the Lord
• Isaiah 62:11-12 - The Messiah comes to Zion

In the beginning of Isaiah 61 we get a description of the Messiah and what he will do. The first line says, "The Spirt of the Lord God is upon me" 

For me, I am praying for the Holy Spirit to come upon me and work in me.  I pray that it would give me the desire to love God and serve Him only. I also pray that it would help me to hate sin.

Isaiah 60

 Scripture – Isaiah 60

Observation – 

• Isaiah 60:1-13 - The glory of Israel in the Kingdom of God
• Isaiah 60:1-3 - The glorious light of God's kingdom
• Isaiah 60:4-13 - Great treasures come to Israel in the kingdom
• Isaiah 60:14-22 - The glory of Israel is contrasted with their previous state
• Isaiah 60:14-18 - How the nations treated Israel, and how they will treat Israel in the kingdom of God
• Isaiah 60:19-22 - How the Lord will treat Israel in the kingdom.

Isaiah 59

 Scripture – Isaiah 59

Observation – 

• Isaiah 59:1-8 - The sin God sees
• Isaiah 59:1 - The problem of God's people: what it isn't
• Isaiah 59:2 - The problem of God's people: what it is
• Isaiah 59:3-8 - A description of the sin of the people
• Isaiah 59:9-15a - The effect of sin that the people see
• Isaiah 59:9-11 - Because of their sin, darkness comes
• Isaiah 59:12-15a - Confessing their sin and admitting their guilt
• Isaiah 59:15b-21 - The salvation and redemption of the LORD
• Isaiah 59:15b-16a - What the Lord saw
• Isaiah 59:16b-19 - What the Lord did
• Isaiah 59:20-21 - What the Lord said

Isaiah 57-58

 Scripture – Isaiah 57-58

Observation – 

• Isaiah 57:1-10 - Judah's idolatry is like spiritual adultery
• Isaiah 57:1-2 - The persecution of the righteous
• Isaiah 57:3-10 - The spiritual adultery of the people
• Isaiah 57:11-21 - God describes how he deals with disobedience
• Isaiah 57:11-13 - The end of God's patience with His people
• Isaiah 57:14 - A stumbling block removed
• Isaiah 57:15-21 - God describes the way of peace and restoration
• Isaiah 58:1-5 - God exposes the people's shallow worship
• Isaiah 58:1-3a - The people ask why their prayers haven't been answered
• Isaiah 58:3b-5 - God exposes their shallow worship
• Isaiah 58:6-14 - The character and blessing of true worship
• Isaiah 58:6-7 - The worship and fasting that is acceptable to God
• Isaiah 58:8-12 - The blessing God promises for those who truly worship him
• Isaiah 58:13-14 - True Sabbath and the blessings of it

Isaiah 55-56

 Scripture – Isaiah 55-56

Observation – 

• Isaiah 55:1-7 - An invitation to receive blessing
• Isaiah 55:1-2 - An invitation to be fed
• Isaiah 55:3-5 - An invitation to be led
• Isaiah 55:6-7 - An invitation to be forgiven
• Isaiah 55:8-13 - The glorious way of the LORD
• Isaiah 55:8-9 - A reminder of the difference between God and man
• Isaiah 55:10-11 - How the word of God works
• Isaiah 55:12-13 - The joy and the blessing of restoration
• Isaiah 56:1-8 - A promise for those outside Israel
• Isaiah 56:1-2 - A call to righteousness
• Isaiah 56:3-8 - A promise for the foreigner and the outcast
• Isaiah 56:9-12 - A promise to judge the blind leaders
• Isaiah 56:9 - A word to the beasts or false teachers
• Isaiah 56:10-11 - A word about the unfaithful leaders of Judah
• Isaiah 56:12 - A word from the unfaithful leaders of Judah

8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

These two verses remind me of how great and amazing God is, and how insignificant we are. I feel like in life, we have our own thoughts about different things that happen. We lose something or someone we love, and we immediately blame something or someone. Verse 8 reminds me that despite all that happens, God's ways are different and higher than my ways. His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. 

These two verse combine with Romans 8:28 which says that God works for the good of those who love him. So when I look and see things that upset me and don't go my way, I need to remember that God is working for me, even when my thoughts can't see it, because I know that his thoughts and ways are higher than mine.

Isaiah 53-54

 Scripture – Isaiah 53-54

Observation – 

• Isaiah 53:1-9 - The suffering of Jesus
• Isaiah 53:1-3 - How man saw the suffering of Christ
• Isaiah 53:4-6 - Jesus bears our sins
• Isaiah 53:7-9 - The suffering and death of Christ
• Isaiah 53:10-12 - The victory of Jesus
• Isaiah 53:10-11 - The Messiah's satisfaction
• Isaiah 53:12 - The Messiah's work and reward
• Isaiah 54:1-8 - The Lord speaks to Israel as a wife
• Isaiah 54:1-3 - Israel will be restored like a barren woman who bears many children
• Isaiah 54:4-6 - Israel will be restored like a widow who is rescued
• Isaiah 54:7-8 - God explains his restoration of Israel
• Isaiah 54:9-17 - Comfort and assurance to Israel
• Isaiah 54:9-10 - A promise to never forsake Israel
• Isaiah 54:11-17 - Promises of prosperity, peace, and protection

Verses 6-12 really encourages and shows how amazing Christ's love was for us. In verse 6, it tells of how we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have each gone to our own way. Despite all of our scattering and sinning each in our own way, He bore our transgressions and our iniquities and brought us back into the kingdom of the son he loves. This whole chapter speaks of what Christ went through. He was pierced, afflicted, crushed, oppressed, and slaughtered. 

What really amazes me though, is how Christ knew all this. It was prophesied in this chapter. He knew what was going to happen to Him, and yet he still went through it all for us. Praise God for his love for us even though we have gone astray. 

Isaiah 52

 Scripture – Isaiah 52

Observation – 

• Isaiah 52:1-8 - The sin of Ephraim
• Isaiah 52:1-4 A flood of judgment on Ephraim
• Isaiah 52:5-6 - The beauty of the Lord replaces the beauty of Ephraim
• Isaiah 52:7-8 - The corrupt drunkenness of Judah
• Isaiah 52:9-29 - God's message to those who are ready to be judged
• Isaiah 52:9-10 - The message is mocked
• Isaiah 52:11-13 - Isaiah speaks of the consequences
• Isaiah 52:14-15 - The false confidence of sinful leaders
• Isaiah 52:16-19 - The security of the Messiah
• Isaiah 52:20-22 - Advice ot those who are ready to be judged
• Isaiah 52:23-29 - The timing of the farmer and the timing of God