The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 256: Hard Seasons (2023)

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

Fr. Mike encourages us to never stop talking to God, even in the hardest seasons of our lives. Much like yesterday's readings, we're seeing a lot of pain and suffering the lives of our brothers and sisters, but we still have so much to hope for. Today’s readings are Jeremiah 51, Lamentations 4-5, and Proverbs 18:9-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today, it is day 256. We're reading three chapters today, one from Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 51. It's one of the longest chapters in the entire book of Jeremiah, which is the longest

book in the Bible. So a little fun facts for you guys. Lamentations 4 and 5, the conclusion of basically of Lamentations as Jeremiah observes the pain and the suffering of the people of Jerusalem as he walks through the city under siege. And we're also reading Proverbs chapter 18 verses 9 through 12. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version of the Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year and click off those last 109 days. That'd be great. That'd be awesome. Why not do that? You also can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily

episodes and daily updates. It is day 256 and we're reading Jeremiah 51, Lamentations 4 and 5, Proverbs chapter 18, 9 through 12. The book of Jeremiah chapter 51. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Chaldea. And I will send to Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow her. And they shall empty her land when they come against her from every side on the day of trouble. Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not stand up in his coat of mail. Spare not her young men, utterly destroy all her host. They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans and wounded in her streets. For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by

their God, the Lord of hosts. But the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. Flee from the midst of Babylon. Let every man save his life. Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her. Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunken. The nations drank of her wine, therefore the nations went mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken. Wail for her. Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each to his own country.

For her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies. The Lord has brought forth our vindication. Come, let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields. The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it. For that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple. Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon.

Make the watch strong. Set up watchmen, prepare the ambushes. For the Lord has both planned and done what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come. The threat of your life is cut. The Lord of hosts has sworn by himself, Surely I will fill you with men as many as locusts, and they shall raise the shout of victory over you. It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes

lightning for the rain rain and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Every man is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols for his images are false and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion. At the time of their punishment, they shall perish. Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name. You are my hammer and weapon of war.

With you I break nations in pieces. With you I destroy kingdoms. With you I break in pieces the horse and his rider. With you, I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer. With you, I break in pieces man and woman. With you, I break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you, I break in pieces the young man and the maiden. With you, I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you, I break in pieces the farmer and his team. With you, I break in pieces governors and commanders. The Doom of Babylon

I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, says the Lord. Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the Lord, which destroys the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you and roll you down from the crags and make you a burnt mountain. No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste, says the Lord.

Set up a standard on the earth. Blow the trumpet among the nations. Prepare the nations for war against her. Summon against her the kingdoms Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Bring up horses like bristling locusts. Prepare the nations for war against her, the king of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the Lord's purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting. They remain in their strongholds. Their strength has failed. They have become women.

Her dwellings are on fire. Her bars are broken. One runner runs to meet another and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side. The fords have been seized. The bulwarks are burned with fire and the soldiers are in panic. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me.

He has made me an empty vessel. He has swallowed me like a monster. He has filled his belly with my delicacies. He has rinsed me out. The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon, let the inhabitant of Zion say. My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, let Jerusalem say. Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry. And Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing

without inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions. They shall growl like lions' whelps. When they are inflamed, I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk till they swoon away and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the Lord. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and he goats. How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized. How Babylon has become a horror among the nations. The sea has come up on Babylon. She is covered with its tumultuous waves. Her cities have become a horror, a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one dwells and through which no son of man passes. And I will punish Bel in Babylon and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer flow to him. The wall of Babylon has fallen.

Go out of the midst of her, my people, that every man save his life from the fierce anger of the Lord. Let not your heart faint and be not fearful at the report heard in the land when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year and violence is in her land, and ruler is against ruler. Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the images of Babylon. Her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, says the Lord. Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, as for Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, says the Lord. Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.

You that have escaped from the sword, go, stand not still. Remember the Lord from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach. Dishonor has covered our face, for aliens have come into the holy places of the Lord's house. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will execute judgment upon her images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me upon her, says the Lord. Listen, a cry from Babylon, the noise of great destruction from the

land of the Chaldeans. For the Lord is laying Babylon waste and stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters. The noise of their voice is raised. For a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon. Her warriors are taken, their bows are broken in pieces. For the Lord is a God of recompense. He will surely repay. I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors. They shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The people's labor for nothing and the nations weary themselves only for fire. Jeremiah's command to Saraiah. The word which Jeremiah the prophet

commanded Saraiah the son of Neriah, son of Maasiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Saraiah was the quartermaster. Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. the evil that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Saraiah, When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words and say, O Lord, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever. When you finish reading this book, bind a stone to it, and cast it in the midst of the Euphrates and say, thus shall Babylon sink to rise no more because of the evil that I am bringing

upon her. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. The Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter four, The Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 4. The Punishment and Distress of Zion. How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed. The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands. Even the jackals give the breast and suckle their young. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the infant clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst. The children beg for food, but no one gives to them. Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple

lie on ash heaps. For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, no hand being laid on it. Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk. Their bodies were more ruddy than coral. The beauty of their form was like sapphire. Now their visage is blacker than soot. They are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled upon their bones. It has become as dry as wood.

Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who pined away, stricken by want of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. They became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord gave full vent to his wrath. He poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion, which consumed its foundations. The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. It was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous. They wandered, blind, through the streets, so defiled with blood that none could touch their

garments. Away, unclean, men cried at them. Away, away, touch not. So they became fugitives and wanderers. Men said among the nations, they shall stay with us no longer. The Lord himself has scattered them. He will regard them no more. No honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders. Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help. In our watching, we watched for a nation which could not save. Men dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our days were numbered, for our end had come. Our pursuers were swifter than the vultures in the heavens.

They chased us on the mountains, they lay the vultures in the heavens. They chased us on the mountains. They lay in wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed, was taken in their pits. He of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among the nations. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, dweller in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup shall pass. You shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished. He will keep you in exile no longer. But your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish. He will uncover

your sins. Chapter 5. A Prayer for Mercy We must pay for the water we drink. The wood we get must be bought. With a yoke on our necks, we are hard driven. We are weary. We are given no rest. We have given the hand to Egypt and to Assyria to get bread enough. Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we bear their iniquities. Slaves rule over us. There is none to deliver us from their hand. We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.

Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. Women are ravished in Zion. Virgins in the towns of Judah. Princes are hung up by their hands. No respect is shown to the elders. Young men are compelled to grind at the mill and boys stagger under loads of wood. The old men have quit the city gate.

The young men their music. The joy of our hearts has ceased. Our dancing has been turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned. For this our heart has become sick. For these things our eyes have grown dim. For Mount Zion which lies desolate, jackals prowl over it. But you, O Lord, reign forever. Your throne endures to all generations. Your throne endures to all generations.

Why do you forget us forever? Why do you so long forsake us? Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored. Renew our days as of old. Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you exceedingly angry with us? The book of Proverbs chapter 18 verses 9 through 12. A rich man's wealth is his strong city and like a high wall protecting him. Before destruction, a man's heart is haughty, but humility goes before honor. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We thank you so much. Gosh, Lord God, thank you.

Thank you for bringing us to this day. Thank you for bringing us almost all the way through the book of the prophet Jeremiah. And thank you for bringing us through this book of lamentations of Jeremiah. Lord God, just like when we walked with Job, our friend, like when we walked with Tobit, we walked with all the people who have just suffered so much and they cried out to you. Their suffering was real. Suffering was profound, and yet they didn't trust in you. Lord God, please help us that when our suffering is real, that we don't stop trusting you, that when it seems like you've abandoned us, that we can see the truth and we can know the truth and we can live in that truth, that truth that you've never abandoned us, but we've abandoned you. that truth that you've never abandoned us, but we've abandoned you. So bring us back,

bring us back to you, Lord God, this day and every day so that we can live the eternal day, that great day in your presence and in your power. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So gosh, you guys, we have one more chapter, chapter 52 of Jeremiah tomorrow, but today is this one chapter, the longest chapter, as I mentioned in Jeremiah chapter 51. And what do we have? We have this, the ultimate, essentially ultimate condemnation of Babylon. One of the things that you're going to see, I mean, in not too many days, roughly a hundred or so from now, we're going to get to the book of Revelation, chapter 17 and 18, those two chapters, talk about an ultimate Babylon. So obviously, whenever there's a prophecy,

there's always kind of an immediate fulfillment of the prophecy, and there's going to be like a distant or end times, or not even necessarily end times, but as I said, distant, let's make it simple, an immediate fulfillment of the prophecy and a distant fulfillment of the prophecy. The immediate fulfillment of the prophecy has already come true, obviously. It was that the Medo-Persian empire came against Babylon and Babylon, which God used. Remember, God used Babylon to bring his judgment on his people. Again, not because Babylon was good, not because Nebuchadnezzar was good. They were not and he was not.

not because Nebuchadnezzar was good. They were not, and he was not. But there's a sense we've talked about before about the permissible will of God and the perfect will of God, that God's perfect will is that we don't sin. God's perfect will is for us to live in holiness. His perfect will, his destiny for us, he wants us to live forever with him. For God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. That's in the book of wisdom. I think you're going to love it. It's coming in a little bit. First, we have, of course, a messianic checkpoint. Then we have the return. Then we have Maccabean revolt. And in the course of that, we're going to hear the book of wisdom. And in the book of wisdom, it says, as I said, God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living, for he created all things that they might have life. So God, his will, his perfect

will for us is that we have life and not just life in this world, but eternal life, but his permissible will, right? That what God allows to happen because of free will and because he knows that he can bring about a greater good is what a lot of us experience on a day-to-day basis. And this is what the people of Israel experienced, the people of Jerusalem experienced, the people of Judah experienced with the Babylonians. of Israel experienced, the people of Jerusalem experienced, the people of Judah experienced with the Babylonians. Again, just because God is willing to use people or kingdoms, even kings, to bring about his judgment doesn't mean that those kings and kingdoms are just. He is just. And so the just ruling, of course, is that Babylon, which was so evil, which sought to

destroy the people of Israel, would be themselves destroyed and never rise again. And if you want proof about how bad Babylon was, well, we got to the conclusion of the book of Lamentations chapters four and five. And I mean, gosh, I think you imagine the ways in which this description in chapter four, it's, here's one, chapter four, verse four, the tongue of the infant clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst. The children beg for food, but no one gives to them. And this is just horrible. And it goes on to talk about those who used to be wealthy. They've fallen. People used to be important. They are not recognized because of the reality that everyone in Jerusalem is in the midst of suffering.

And this is what suffering does to us. It goes on, even changes hearts. I mean, suffering has the ability to reform us, right? Suffering has the ability to purify us and make us better, but it also has the ability to reveal the darkness, the brokenness of our own hearts. In chapter 4, verse 10, it's one of the worst verses that you could really come across in the entire Bible. In chapter 4 of Lamentations, verse 10, it says,

The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. They became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. That even good women, here's good people, the hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. In fact, I think it's the historian Josephus who writes about this, not only here in Lamentations, the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, but later on, the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, that something similar happened there. This way in which, again, sometimes suffering, sometimes desperation can lead us to do things

we never would imagine we'd ever possibly do. That's one of the reasons why we continue to pray, not only for strength, but also that we might be spared, that we might be spared those kinds of times, those kinds of seasons, that kind of age where we realize that, okay, God, I have the potential to do the unimaginable. So please spare me, spare me from that. Not because that means I'm stronger, but because I don't ever, ever want to do something so horrible. But we recognize in our hearts, what we read there in chapter four, verse 10, that even good people resorted to cannibalism

and their desperation. And I don't know about you, but I know for myself that there are so many times when a situation happens or my own brokenness comes to the surface and I realize that I've just chosen to do something I would never want to choose to do in a million years. And I can decide to say, well, I guess that's who I am. I guess I'm no good. I guess I'm that broken. Or I can say, okay, that's the truth.

That's the truth of my heart is that I'm willing to do that. But here's the truth of God's heart. And he declares, okay, yep, I already knew this. The truth of God's heart, he declares, I already knew that that was in you. And I already knew that that's what you were capable of. Maybe even in God's omniscience, right, is knowing everything.

He'd say that I even knew that's what you were going to do. And yet in that, I also chose to give up myself. I chose to live in this earth as someone who's poor, to suffer, to die, to rise from the dead for you. This person that you just discovered you were broken. I've known you were broken. I've known you're broken for eternity. And even knowing that, here's God who's chosen to die for us. He's chosen to live for us. He's chosen to give us himself, which is remarkable, which is incredible. And that's one of the reasons why even the book of Lamentations ends with hope. Even the book of Lamentations ends with this declaration of trust. Now, when I say it ends with hope, keep in mind that what I

mean by that is Jeremiah is still talking to God. I don't mean that he's saying, but it's all going to be okay. Actually, chapter five doesn't indicate in any way things are going to be okay. In fact, chapter five ends with a series of questions. Why do you forget us forever? Why do you so long forsake us? Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you exceedingly angry with us? I say that Jeremiah still ends the book of Lamentations with hope because he doesn't stop talking to God. He's heartbroken. His body is broken.

Maybe even his spirit is broken in so many ways, but his hope has not been taken away. And that's the truth for all of us, that even in the worst season, if we just keep talking to God, we might be desperate. We might be desolate. We could be, as Jeremiah was, weeping ceaselessly. But as long as we're talking to God, it means that we still have hope. So my brothers, my friends, my sisters, please never stop talking to God. Never stop letting him talk to you through his scripture, through his church, in your prayer. Now I'm praying for you for that day. I'm praying for you for that day in your life when maybe everything else will be lost except for that hope, that willingness to still talk to the Father and to still let the Father speak to you.

I'm praying for that for you. Please pray for that for me too. Let's pray for each other. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.