“But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.”
~ Jeremiah 11:8
Hi James and Ellen,
What would you do if you had something really important to tell your ma and dad but they would not listen to you? How would you feel if you knew that your house was on fire but your ma and dad would not believe you when you told them that your house was burning? When you have something that you think is really important that you want to tell someone, you probably feel disappointed or frustrated or angry when that person does not listen to what you have to tell him or her – right? Your grandmaa and grandpaa are living in Guatemala. Do you know why? Your grandmaa and grandpaa lived for twelve years in Bolivia. Do you know why? There are a lot of guys, gals and kids who are living in Guatemala and in Bolivia who have never had an opportunity to be taught what the Bible says. How would you like it if no one ever teaches you what the Bible says? The Bible has in it very important truths. The Bible not only teaches a guy, gal or kid how to live his or her life but it gives a guy, gal or kid the answer to why he or she is living on planet Earth. You are living on planet Earth because God created you to do so. God created you to believe in what His Son – Jesus Christ, did for you so that you will honor and glorify His name. Another extremely important message that is taught in the Bible is that God expects you to be obedient to His will.
Do you remember when your grandpaa told you that the Bible is divided into two separate books or parts? These two separate parts of the Bible are called the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament tells you about Jesus’ life and what Jesus did for you when He was nailed to a cross to die. The New Testament is the last part of the Bible. The Old Testament tells you that Jesus Christ would one day be born on planet Earth. The Old Testament makes up the first part of the Bible. The Old Testament’s focus is on the Israelites. The Israelites were God’s specially chosen people. You can learn a lot from the Israelites in the Old Testament as Israelite guys and gals did not always listen well to God. God gave His specially chosen people explicit rules and laws that He expected them to obey. God warned His specially chosen people that if they did not obey His rules and laws that they would suffer a horrible consequence. It was God’s desire that His specially chosen people only worshipped Him. God’s specially chosen people decided that it was okay for them to worship other gods – like Baal. How do you think God felt when His specially chosen people made a piece of rock their god and seeing His specially chosen people everywhere in the country burn incense offerings to this god? God was very upset that the guys and gals Who He had helped in miraculous ways did not now want anything to do with Him. God called out emissaries to pass on the messages that He wanted His specially chosen people to hear. One of God’s message couriers that He sent to His specially chosen people was Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew what God had told His specially chosen people years before when God took the Israelite people group out of Egypt. God had even made a covenant with His specially chosen people. What God said in the covenant that He made with His specially chosen people was that if they would obey Him, that He would always help them. God also said in His covenant that if His specially chosen people did not obey Him, that He would no longer help them. When God’s specially chosen people stopped being obedient to Him, Jeremiah – in Jeremiah 11, reminds God’s specially chosen people that God would do exactly what He said that He would do if they ever stopped being obedient to Him. Jeremiah wrote what is now verse 8 “But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’” A covenant is like when your ma and dad promise to do something with you after you do something for them. Your grandpaa is sure that your ma and dad have asked you to pick up your toys. Your ma and dad may tell you that if you pick up your toys that they will spend time with you outside on your swing set. A curse is like what your ma and dad has told you will happen to you if you do not pick up your toys. Your ma and dad may tell you that you will get a spanking or that you will have to go to your room or . . . if you do not do what they ask you to do. A curse can be thought of as a sure punishment of . . .
Because two brothers could not get along years before Jeremiah wrote the book which was named after him and because they both wanted to be a king, God’s specially chosen people became two nations. One nation – which was like a country, was called Israel and the other nation was called Judah. By the time that Jeremiah was really into warning the guys and gals who were living in Judah what would happen to them if they did not stop worshipping false gods like Baal and that they needed to return to being obedient to God, Israel had already been captured by the Assyrians. When your grandpaa was a kid, your grandpaa’s dad had very bad headaches. Your grandpaa and his brothers and sisters had to be very quiet in the house when your grandpaa’s dad had a bad headache. Your grandpaa did not know what would happen to him if he did not stay quiet; your grandpaa knew though that he did not want to find out what would happen. Your grandpaa and his brothers and sisters were obedient to their ma. God’s specially chosen people were not obedient to God. God is just about ready to send a country called Babylonia to carry away the God’s specially chosen people who were living in Judah because they refused to be obedient to Him. Jeremiah even found out that the guys and gals from where he grew up – which was Anathoth, wanted to get rid of him. Your grandpaa knows that even though being obedient is not something easy to do that it is something that you must do.
Jeremiah 11 (30)