The passage

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah. 6Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me:

Also referenced today

The shape of the message

1. God commands an action of faith at the worst moment
2. Jeremiah’s imprisonment and the cost of faithfulness
3. The land purchase as public obedience on God’s promise
4. Prayer after obedience: worship, memory, honesty
5. God’s answer: certain judgement and coming restoration
6. Final call to obey now rather than wait for conditions

Questions to hold while you listen

• Where are you tempted to wait for conditions to improve before you obey what you already know God is telling you to do?
• How does Jeremiah’s imprisonment and rejection (including Jeremiah 11:21–23) shape your expectations about what faithfulness may cost?
• Which part of Jeremiah’s prayer pattern do you neglect most—worship, memory, or honesty—and what would it look like to practise it this week?
• What ongoing anxiety or unanswered question do you need to take before the Lord instead of keeping up a “pious front”?
• What “field” might God be asking you to buy right now—an act of obedience that looks unwise by present conditions but rests on God’s promise?

Notes

This week

Identify one concrete act of obedience you have been postponing until you “feel” better or circumstances improve, and do it now. Leave the timing and the reason to God, and take your questions to him honestly in prayer.