Mike Blogs

God spoke the last line of Chapter 5: "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule as the prophets direct; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?”   If God speaks to us through Scripture, and we believe that God does this, what is God saying to us today through the prophet Jeremiah? First comes a warning we should heed. “Prophets and priests” are religious personnel; so are today's p

Thanks to Luke, we have more insight into Mary’s thoughts, wishes, and suffering than we do for most other women in the Bible. Luke says that he “ investigated everything carefully from the very first.” My own guess is that, among his informants, that is, among the “ eyewitnesses and servants of the word” that he consulted, was Mary. Mary was young when Jesus was born, perhaps just 15, and we know that she lived into the AD 30s because she was at the cross. She could have li

God, through the prophet Jeremiah, is making his last call to the only remaining Jewish state in the ancient world: Judah.   The northern kingdom, which was called Israel, disappeared from the annals of history in 721 BC, one of many conquests of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-609 BC). The people living in Israel were deported in order to prevent them from organizing a rebellion against Assyria. They are sometimes referred to as ‘the ten lost tribes,” but they were not all lost

Did you ever feel like you are not getting the respect that you deserve? Other people are emerging as the big players on the field while you remain on the sidelines. It may be that this wife of David felt that way. Or perhaps early in her lifetime, she was in the game, maybe even cherished by David at one time, but we don’t read much about later in life. Her name was Maacah. She was the mother of Absalom, Tamar, and Hanan. And therein lies the tale.  After Saul and his son Jo

Hope for the nation of Judah? No. God has made that clear. Unless there is mass repentance, that is, the leaders publicly confess their sins and bow only to YHWH and people abandon their idols, ideals, and the ideology of military domination over other nations (power), of the legitimacy of fleecing the lower classes (greed), and the practice of abusing others for their own pleasure (lust). Unless there is widespread repentance and prayers for forgiveness, there is no hope for

Abigail you may have heard of, and David you know; or at least you think you do. Maybe you know the good parts with that one big mistake with Bathsheba. There is more, though, as you will see later.  While David was on the run, King Saul took back his daughter Michal and gave her to another man as his wife. From the devotionals for the last two weeks, we know that during this time he took a widow named Abigail as his wife. We actually know something about her.  However, at ab

Perhaps you have heard about the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic. He lit a lantern during daylight hours and walked around town. When people asked him what he was doing, he said: “I am looking for an honest man.” Actually, according to the reports of other philosophers, he said he was tired of brutes and animals, so he was looking for a human. Of course, the ‘brutes and animals’ were human beings of little worth, and he could not find a human of any worth. Diogenes lived

Did I say that Abigail was clever? Actually, Scripture says “ The woman was clever and beautiful”  (I Samuel 25: 3). David said that she had good sense. At least one person in the marriage had good sense; Nabal did not.   Nabal failed in the basic community responsibility of hospitality to strangers and visitors. Nabal failed to discern God’s hand in the struggle of David against Saul. Nabal gave harsh treatment to David’s young men without a thought about the possibility of

Jeremiah 4: 19-22. My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!    Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly;    I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet,    the alarm of war. Disaster overtakes disaster;    the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed,    my curtains in a moment. How long must I see the standard    and hear the sound of the trumpet?“ For my people are foolish;    they do not know me; they are stupid childre

David was on the run from his maniacal father-in-law, King Saul. He left his wife behind. Michal was Saul’s daughter, as we are often reminded in I Samuel 18. That relationship got more complex as Michal was pulled between her father and her husband. David’s first wife was not so merry after all. Eventually, Saul gave her to another man.  David was hiding out in the wilderness of Paran in southern Israel, west of the Dead Sea. I Samuel 25 describes a rich man who was living t

Remember that Baruch the scribe recorded various prophetic sermons that Jeremiah preached. We cannot tell for sure where one ends and another begins, but this looks like the beginning of a new sermon. Let’s see.  Jeremiah 4: 5-8.  Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the trumpet through the land;    shout aloud (take your weapons), and say, “Gather together, and let us go    into the fortified cities!” Raise a standard toward Zion;    flee for safet

A disclaimer right up front, maybe two disclaimers. First, I just stole a title from Shakespeare; there is no evidence that David’s wives were merry. Some were downright sad, at least part of the time.  Second, in the story as told in the Bible, David is the main character; the wives ranged from little voice to no voice. They were in the midst of internal political strife in Israel; and they were often pawns or peripheral to the disputes (no surprise there!). Yet, they had a

Jeremiah 4: 1-2. If you return, O Israel, says the Lord, if you return to me, if you remove your abominations from my presence    and do not waver, and if you swear, "As the LORD lives!”    in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall be blessed by you,    and by you they shall boast.   Notice the repeated phrases. When we talk to our children, we often phrase it like this, ‘If…, if…, if….’  In this case, God clarifies as he speaks (sounding a bit like Rob

Hannah had a promise to keep.  “ When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh, and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence praying to the LORD. For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me the pet

Sunday Sermon: Cason UMC,  November 9, 2025,  Michael Rynkiewich (sermon title is a reference to Eugene Peterson's Classic book by the same title) You know, this spot is a dangerous place. Jesus said that it would be better for a teacher to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown in the sea than for him to mislead one of these little ones. Not a millstone, actually, but a ‘great millstone’. One danger is the temptation to boast. Pray for me

It may seem odd that God is pleading with Judah rather than commanding them. However, our God is a God of love, and his commands, his judgments, and even his punishments serve that purpose. In our study, God is still talking with Jeremiah the prophet, and Jeremiah is still preaching God’s word while Baruch, the scribe, is recording it all on scrolls. Jeremiah’s ministry is to a public that is deluded about where their political and religious leaders are leading them. They do

Hannah had yearned for a child to love, and to take away her shame of childlessness, so common a problem in village cultures, ancient and modern. She poured out her heart before God and was overheard by Eli the priest at the worship center of Shiloh. God heard that prayer, and it was granted. Hannah had a son. Significantly, she named him Samuel meaning ‘I have asked him of God’ or ‘I have borrowed him from God’.   In her prayer, she promised that, if she had a son, she would

I asked last week whether or not God’s condemnation of Israel and Judah was his last word? Yes, in the short run, for some of the people, it was. Yet, no, not in the long run, for some people survived and became refugees, exiles in Babylon. Those refugees become the second audience for Jeremiah’s prophecies, and Oh, how the times have changed the message.      These are the days of Jeremiah, and we are reading summaries of his early prophecies that his scribe Baruch has writt

Hannah (Grace) and her husband Elkanah are making their annual visit to Shiloh to worship YHWH, the Lord God Almighty, and to make sacrifices. Shiloh was a major religious site during the time of the judges and before the time of the kings. For a while, it was the home of the Tabernacle (the tent that Moses used during the Wilderness Wanderings) and the Ark of the Covenant. Later, King David conquered the remaining Canaanites (Jebusites, actually) who held Jerusalem. Then Dav

Where are we in the story? The scribe Baruch wrote down on a scroll the prophecies of Jeremiah for the king and people of Judah in the...