Hashem is Always There

In class we finally began Yirmiyahu! We introduced Yirmiyahu by learning about the last of the kings of Yehuda. We learned about Yoshuyahu who is a good king. He had refurbished the Beit hamikdash and attemted to stop the idol worhsip of Bnei Yisrael. After Yoshiyahu we are introduced to the last of the kings. All of the last of the kings had done some sort of evil in the eyes of Hashem. They brought idol worship back into Yehuda.

Then we got into the actual Sefer of Yirmiyahu. At this time in history Assyria was the superpower. At this time, Yoshiyahu was the king of yehudah and he was doing a good job. After Yoshiyahu's ruling things started to get bad. After him there were four kings that were going terrible jobs ruling over Bnei Yisrael. In the Time of Yoshiyahu the main focus was to avoid destruction. After the the ruling of Yoshiyahu the main focus had changed and it had become that there will be destruction.

We are introduced to Yirmiyahu as a Kohen from Antot. He became a prophet in the 13th year od Yoshiyahu's ruling and he was a prophet until the destruction. At first he was a little unsure of himself to become a Navi but Hashem reassured him that he was being chosen and he is the right person to become a navi. His purpose was to uproot, destroy, rebuild, and plant.

Yoshuyahu has his first two visions. In his first vision he saw an almond branch. The message from Hashem was saying "I will hasten my word to perform it." In his second vision he saw an open pot that was facing north. The meaning of that vision was that from the north there will be bad that will come to the inhabitants of Yerushalaim.

Yishayahu had 4 missions. His first mission was to go and speak Hashem's judgements about Bnei Yisrael's evil. Bnei Yisrael had begun to bring sacrifices other gods. They would bow down to idols and they had believed that their success came from them and not Hashem. His second mission was that he needs to get up and to speak the messages that Hashem gives him. His third mission was to not be scared of the people because Hsahem will be with him. His last mission was that Bnei Yisrael will try to attack him but he shouldn't worry because Hashem will always be with him.

I think that what we can learn from the beginning of the Sefer is that we take all that Hashem does for us for granted. Most of us don't actually sit there and recognize that Hashem is with us all the time and with everything we do. Hashem will be with us in our good and also our bad times. He is there watching over us. On the Shabbaton I was recently on this weekend I learned that when you first daven and recognize Hashem, even if He doesn't answer right away or all the time, He is still there watching over us and listening to our prayers.