Jeremiah Part 2, Lamentations
Last week, we focused on Jeremiah’s life and some of the things we could learn from his experiences. This week, we’re going to spend our time with his message.
LESSON #1 GREATER THAN THE EXODUS (Jeremiah 16, 31)
TRUTH:
The Lord is gathering His people to Himself, and we can take a meaningful part by helping even just one person come closer to Christ.
FIRE IN THE BONES:
Here’s a thought that gives me a fire in the bones for teaching this lesson. The gathering of Israel can sound so enormous that people sometimes wonder where they fit. They hear about missionaries, temples, and nations, and then look at their own opportunities and think, “What could I possibly contribute?” Jeremiah lets us see both the size of the work and the care within it. This lesson can help your students see that their efforts make a difference in that great work. It matters. There’s someone out there that they can help.
WHAT THE TEACHER SHOULD KNOW:
One of the things I love about Jeremiah is that, even with all the warnings and rebukes, there are these wonderful promises of what God would do for His people. Yes, they would be scattered. Jerusalem would fall. But that wasn’t going to be the end of their story. All throughout this book, the Lord makes promises that He would gather His people again in the future.
All throughout the Old Testament, when the Lord’s people spoke about the power and nature of their God, Jehovah. When they wished to point to an example of His sovereignty and supremacy, what event or miracle did they always point to? The Exodus. They worshipped the God of the Exodus. The God that was able to free them from Egypt, direct them through the wilderness, part the Red Sea for them, and lead them to their promised land. No other miracle since then, in their minds, compared to that miraculous display of their god’s strength.
But what interesting thing does Jeremiah say about that in chapter 16:14-15?
14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
15 But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
Now that’s saying something. He says that in the future, there will be an even greater, more impressive event that will eclipse the magnitude and grandeur of the exodus. That event is the gathering of Israel. The restoration of god’s people to their promised land. THAT will be even more impressive. That’s going to be so amazing that people aren’t going to go around saying, “The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the Lord of the gathering liveth.”
Something important to understand here. This prophecy has multiple fulfillments and interpretations. What gathering is Jeremiah referring to when he makes these prophecies? Well, he could be talking about the ancient return of the Jews to the city of Jerusalem. Think Ezra and Nehemiah for that idea. Or he could be talking about the latter-day gathering of Jews back to their homeland and establishing Jerusalem as their capitol again. The modern state of Israel was created in 1948, and Jewish people continue to gather there to this day. Or, he could be talking about the missionary efforts of the latter-day restored Church of Jesus Christ gathering people from all lands to the figurative Zion being established all over the world. Or, he could be talking on a more personal level as well. The fact that WE can be gathered back to Christ, after we have scattered ourselves from Him through our choices. I believe Jeremiah meant ALL of those things when he wrote about the gathering of Israel. But for our classes’ purposes, the last two fulfillments are where I would want to spend my time.
Latter-day revelation and prophetic teaching help us to understand how we’re involved in that gathering today. What does it mean to help gather Israel? It’s whenever we help anyone come to Jesus Christ and make and keep covenants with Him. That includes missionary work, strengthening people who are already trying to follow Him, and family history and temple work. It’s important that our students understand that. Any invitation or act of kindness can help someone along that path. That’s gathering Israel!
Then in verse 16, the Lord speaks of sending fishers and hunters. Latter-day prophets have connected that imagery to missionary work. God uses people to accomplish His gathering. In that work, He needs fishers and he needs hunters. What might that imagery suggest about missionary work?
When you go fishing, you typically bring in many. You catch lots of fish. And Jeremiah is most likely referring to commercial fishing here or the kind where you cast out a large net and bring in hundreds of fish at a time. But what about hunting? Typically, how many animals does a hunter bring back with them? One, usually, maybe two? A very small number. I know of hunters who will go out and spend long hours or even days waiting behind a blind or up in a tree for the chance to bring back just one animal in an entire year. With that in mind. Since it’s the gathering of Israel we’re talking about here, what do you think these two types of missionaries could represent? Who are these fishers and hunters?
My thought, there are fisher missions out there, and there are hunter missions. Fisher missions are those places where the Church finds lots of success. Missionaries will teach and baptize many in these kinds of places. The nets are cast out, and numerous souls are enclosed within them. Hunter missions are those areas in the world where successful conversion stories are few and far between. There may be some missionaries who go out and spend an entire mission working and teaching and inviting, and in the end maybe only see one or two converted. That phrase where it describes them hunting in every mountain, and hill and hole suggests the great effort expended in seeking out these individuals.
The point is: God needs both. I feel that I served in a fisher mission. In Brazil where I had the chance to teach a lot of people and have the privilege of seeing a number of them enter the waters of baptism. My sister, on the other hand, served in Taiwan, what I would consider to be a hunter mission, and her experience with teaching the gospel was very different from mine and did not do the same amount of teaching or see the number of conversions that I was able to witness. But, the point is, neither kind of missionary labor is more important than the other. I was no more of a successful missionary than she was. They’re just different kinds of work. The missionary that brings in many is not more important than the one that brings in few.
Now let’s go to Jeremiah 31:8–10 for some additional insight. Listen to who’s included in this returning company and how the Lord cares for them.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
What stands out to me in this passage is that there are people in this company for whom a journey could be particularly difficult. The blind, the lame, women who are pregnant or giving birth. And they’re included. The Lord leads them by water, along a path where they won’t stumble. He calls Himself their Father. You can sense the care in those verses.
And then I love those two words in verse 10. Gather. And keep. The shepherd brings the flock together and continues caring for it. That’s where our takeaway comes from this week. Gather—and keep. Perhaps we invite someone to come to church. Wonderful. But what might they need after that? Someone to sit with? Someone to answer a question? Someone who remembers them the following week? There’s continued care involved.
Finally, we’ll connect this to Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and 15 where the Lord tells us to “Remember the worth of souls”. And remember the joy the Lord promises in bringing even one soul to Him. How much does one person matter? Enough to make a lifetime of labor worthwhile. So if our students feel like their opportunities are small, those verses can help them see the value of their part in this great work.
Of course, we can’t make someone else’s choices for them. We don’t control when or whether they respond. But we can offer an invitation, share our faith, and keep caring. That’s what I’d hope our students would feel prepared to do by the end of this lesson.
So how are we going to teach this?
ICEBREAKER:
Time: 3 min
For an icebreaker, I suggest you do the following pre-quiz. Test your students to see how well they know current Church statistics. From the most recent statistical report from the Church given in General Conference of April 2026, where do we stand right now as far as numbers go? (The answers are underlined) You could do this together as a class or as a handout which I’ll make available as a download this week. Here are the questions:
How many full-time teaching missionaries did we have serving in the world in 2025?
A. 58,742
B. 38,963
C. 88,500
D. 78,446
How many missions are there currently in the world?
A. 123
B. 257
C. 392
D. 451
How many converts joined the Church in 2025?
A. 25,902
B. 94,897
C. 385,490
D. 298,543
What is the current membership of the Church in 2025?
A. 17,887,212
B. 28,531,475
C. 35,098,902
D. 57,237,698
Finally, when all the temples that have either been announced or that are under construction have been completed, how many will the Church have in total around the globe?
A. 232
B. 402
C. 306
D. 385
Transition to the scriptures by saying; The prophet Jeremiah had something to say about the latter-days. His prophecies, made more than 2000 years ago are being fulfilled right before our very eyes. And he’s going to say something very fascinating about our days.
SEARCH ACTIVITY:
Time: 3 min
Then say: All throughout the Old Testament, when the Lord’s people spoke about the power and nature of their God—when they wished to point to an example of His sovereignty and supremacy, there was an event that they always pointed to? What miracle overshadowed every other one up to that time? That miracle was the Exodus. They worshipped the God of the Exodus. The God that was able to free them from Egypt, direct them through the wilderness, part the Red Sea for them, and lead them to their promised land. No other miracle since then, in their minds, compared to that miraculous display of their god’s strength.
But Jeremiah has something quite interesting to say about that in chapter 16:14-15. He says that in the future, there will be an even greater, more impressive event that will eclipse the magnitude and grandeur of the exodus. What is that event according to these verses?
The answer is, the latter-day gathering of Israel. Now you can explain that there are multiple ways that we can interpret that prophecy, like we talked about earlier, but for the purposes of this lesson, we will talk about its fulfillment in the latter-day restoration of the church and the gathering that has been taking place since the Church was restored in 1830.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
Time: 2 Min
What has God done in the latter days that you would point to and say, “That’s a miracle”?
You might refer back to some of the statistics in the pre-quiz that you gave as evidence of some of those miracles.
TEACHER INSIGHT:
Time: 2 Min
Now have them read verse 16 to identify the two groups of people that the Lord will send out to do the gathering. They should identify the hunters and fishers. This is where I might just share the insight of the two types of missions and missionaries we have in the gathering and how God needs both to accomplish his great work.
SEARCH:
Time: 5 Min
Now have your students turn to Jeremiah 31:8–10. Display these two questions or write them on the board:
Who is included?How does the Lord care for them?
Give them about a minute to read those three verses quietly and look for the answers.
Then ask:
What did you notice about the people He gathers and the way He cares for them?
Take two or three observations. They may notice the people named in verse 8, the water and the path in verse 9, or the shepherd in verse 10. If needed, point them toward those details. And you can briefly explain that supplications are earnest prayers.
Then help them see the application. You might say:
“There are people in this returning company for whom the journey could be difficult. The Lord includes them and leads them with care. As we help someone come closer to Christ, we can pay attention to what that person needs along the way.”
Now write two words on the board. GATHER. KEEP. Ask them to notice those actions in verse 10. The shepherd brings his flock together and keeps caring for it. That’s something we can remember after an invitation as well.
And then bring us back to the main idea. This is a great work. But our opportunity to help will often come through one person.
TAKE IT TO HEART:
Time: 4 min
Now let’s give our students a chance to think about their own part in the gathering. I’d display these three prompts:
ONE PERSON: Who could I help take a step toward Christ?ONE STEP: What could I offer this week that fits that person’s needs?KEEP CARING: How could I continue supporting them, whatever their response?
Give them about a minute to think or write.
TAKEAWAY:
Time: 2 min
To conclude, display that slide and perhaps say something like this:
Jeremiah’s prophecies have helped us to see the miracle of the Lord’s great gathering in the latter-days, a miracle greater than the miracles of the Exodus according to him. It is certainly a miraculous time to be a member of the Lord’s flock. If you’ve ever looked back at those people of the Bible with longing or envy of the amazing things they got to see—pillars of fire, seas parting, bread from heaven, remember these prophecies. We are privileged to see even more amazing miracles than that! I imagine that if we were to meet some of the children of Israel in the spirit world who actually experienced the exodus, we may be tempted to say, “Wow, you were a part of the exodus! You lucky! You got to see such remarkable things!” What was it like to see the Red Sea part or the pillar of fire lead you? I wouldn’t be surprised if they looked back at us and said, “Are you kidding? You lived in the latter-days?! You experienced the gathering of Israel? Oh my friend, no, I’m envious of you. YOU saw greater miracles than I ever did.” But, in light of all of that, Jeremiah also helps us to see the personal care within that grander miracle. We get to take part in that miraculous work. I hope we can see what a privilege that is.
OPTIONAL LESSON IDEAS:
CROSS REFERENCE:
If you have time, a nice cross-reference to include would be Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and 15. You could ask:
What do these verses tell us about the value of helping just one person come to the Lord?
And I’d draw their attention to the phrase about “laboring all your days” to bring just “one soul” unto Him. How much is one soul worth? An entire lifetime’s worth of labor. If someone is worth that kind of effort in the Lord’s eyes, then helping that person matters. We don’t have to influence hundreds of people for our part to be meaningful. It’s OK to be hunters. Not all of us are going to have fisherman kinds of experiences in our efforts.
QUOTE:
A great quote you might want to share in this lesson is the following from President Russell M. Nelson who said:
“Anytime we do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—to make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.”
(Conference Report, Oct. 2020 “Let God Prevail”)
PERSONAL STORY:Another option to consider in this lesson would be to share a meaningful personal experience where you had the opportunity to be a part of the gathering of Israel. You might also ask if anyone in the class would be willing to share a “gathering of Israel” experience of their own.
LESSON #2 NEW EVERY MORNING (Jeremiah, Lamentations 3)
TRUTH:
Whatever we’re facing, the Lord gives us reasons to hope in His healing, promises, forgiveness, and compassion.
FIRE IN THE BONES:
What gives me a fire in the bones for teaching this lesson is that Jeremiah has so much to say about hope when you might expect his book to be all warnings and destruction. There are people in our classes who are worried about their future. Some are trying to change. Some wonder if the Lord really has forgiven them. And some are just trying to get through another day. Well, there are words in these chapters for all of them. I’d love to help our students find a promise they can carry out of class and return to when they need it most.
WHAT THE TEACHER SHOULD KNOW:
As we discussed last week, Jeremiah lived through the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, and was terribly persecuted and dismissed by the people. So you might think that Jeremiah would be the last book of scripture to look to for a message of hope. But you’d be wrong. Even in the midst of all the warnings and rebukes, and the description of the sufferings of the people, his writings include some very powerful messages of hope. So when we read these passages, keep in mind that we’re hearing them in the middle of real trouble.
So for this lesson, we’re going to take a look at five short scripture sets which are going to give us five different reasons to hope. There’s a little context you’ll want to understand, but you won’t need to teach a long introduction to each passage.
Jeremiah 17:14—Hope for healing. In this chapter, Jeremiah is praying for the Lord to heal and save him and notice how directly he turns to God: “Heal me,” and “save me” each followed by a declaration of faith in God’s power to do just that. The verse doesn’t specifically say he’s asking for healing from sin. We can apply that prayer to our need for the Savior’s spiritual healing, but I wouldn’t present that application as the only meaning of the verse. And I wouldn’t use it to promise that every illness will be cured immediately. The point we want to teach is that we can bring our need for healing and salvation to the Lord. We could also include Jeremiah 8:22 in this discussion of hope for healing. It reads:
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
What Jeremiah is saying here is that Judah is sick. And so the Lord asks them some rhetorical questions. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? The implied answer here is, “Of course there is. Why don’t you realize this? Healing and help are available. They always have been. Gilead was a city that was East of the Jordan River, an area more fertile and greener than other parts of ancient Israel. And in Old Testament times, there was a special balm or healing ointment that was made from the plants of the area that people would use to heal cuts and wounds.
So Jeremiah draws on this healing imagery to ask why his people are still suffering and hurt—why they seem to have no hope in recovery. He assures them that they are not terminally ill. There’s medicine available. There’s a physician waiting to nurse them back to health. So, go to the physician-Jesus Christ. He has the medicine, the balm that can heal all wounds. We can always find hope for healing in Him!
Jeremiah 29:11—Hope for peace. I love that the Lord tells His people that His thoughts toward them are “thoughts of peace, and not of evil.” Remember, He’s speaking to people who are going to be living in exile in Babylon. Their circumstances certainly wouldn’t feel peaceful, and they wouldn’t be returning home for many, many years. But the Lord wanted them to know that He hadn’t forgotten them and that His purposes for them were still good. The word translated as “peace” carries the idea of well-being and wholeness. So this promise reaches beyond the absence of trouble. It helps us trust the Lord’s intentions toward us while trouble is still present. We may not understand everything that’s happening, but we can find peace in knowing that the God we’re turning to desires our good.
Jeremiah 31:16-17—Hope for the future.
16 Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
This passage gives us hope for the future. In verse 16, Rachel is pictured weeping for her children, representing the sorrow of Israel as her descendants are taken away into captivity. Then the Lord answers that sorrow with a promise: “There is hope in thine end.” I love that phrase. Her children would return. Their exile wouldn’t be the end of their story. Now we shouldn’t use this passage to suggest that every painful situation will turn out exactly as we want. But it does remind us that our present sorrow isn’t the full picture. The Lord’s promises give us reason to look ahead with hope, even when we can’t yet see how He’ll fulfill them. There is an end to all suffering, all pain, all death, all wickedness. For those that choose to follow Christ, there is the promise of a happy ending.
Jeremiah 31:34—Hope for forgiveness. This promise belongs to the passage about the Lord’s new covenant with His people in verses 31–34. For our lesson, we’re focusing on the final sentence: “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” As we repent and turn to Christ, we can trust His forgiveness. This gives us confidence in His willingness to forgive. We may still remember what happened, need to repair harm, or live with consequences but God is the kind of God that not only forgives, but forgets.
Lamentations 3:21–23—Hope for another day.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Now that’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it. God’s mercies are new every morning. Every day, you can wake up with a new sense of hope in God’s mercy. Every day, he stretches out his arm to invite us to return to him. Every day, he is there to help and comfort and reassure us.
ICEBREAKER:
For an icebreaker, I like to do the following illustration with my students to introduce the idea of the kind of hope Jeremiah speaks about in his writings. I want them to understand how worldly hope differs from Godly hope. We use the word hope all the time and I worry that we may confuse how those two different types of hope work. There are things that people hope for in this life. A student may say, “I hope I pass this test” or someone that’s unemployed says, “I hope I get the job”. That’s not the kind of hope we’re talking about when it comes to hope in God, or hopes in Christ. So, I like to set up this little scenario for my students. I invite a student to come up to the front, and I tell them that I’m going to give them a chance to win a dollar. Then I show them the following slide and say that they have one chance to spin the wheel, and if it lands on the dollar space, then they will get to keep it. Then I ask them if they hope they’ll get the dollar. To which they respond that they do. I allow them to use my laptop or a mouse and invite them to click on the needle on the wheel. That gets it spinning. Then, when they choose, they push the needle again, and the wheel stops. Chances are, it’s going to land on a no money space, and I say, “Oh, I’m so sorry, we don’t always get what we hope for, do we?” Now if it does land on the dollar space, then I give them the dollar and say, “Hey sometimes we get lucky, and we do get what we hope for. But let’s try it again with someone else.” And it never happens twice in a row. And I explain “Well, that’s kind of how life works with hope, doesn’t it. It’s the luck of the draw. Sometimes we get what we hope for, but then again, a lot of the time, we don’t. It just depends. This is how worldly hope works.
But let’s look at another kind of hope. When it comes to God’s love, Christ’s mercy, blessings for obedience, the promise of a better world at Christ’s second coming—people of faith claim that they have hope in these things. Does hope in these things work the same way? Let’s have another volunteer come to the front and spin our Godly hope wheel. Let’s say you’re a person that hopes God will forgive you if you repent. Spin this wheel. Or let’s say you hope for a glorious resurrection. Spin this wheel. Or let’s say you hope that God loves you. Spin this wheel. And you can see that no matter when you click the needle, it’s going to land on a hope space. That’s how hope in God works. It’s a guarantee. It’s hope in something certain. We can rest calm in the assurance of God’s mercy, the promise of a glorious resurrection, or the triumph of Zion over Babylon in the end. Just knowing and trusting in those things can help us to keep moving forward even when things get tough in our lives. That comes because of our hope.
SEARCH ACTIVITY:
For the search activity, you can invite your students to do the following matching handout. It has five case studies and five scripture sets included. Their task is to match the situation or question the person is asking with a scripture passage from Jeremiah that they feel could best give that person hope. There’s also a place for them to write a few thoughts on why they feel it’s a good match. You could have them do this activity on their own or with a partner or even in small groups if you prefer. But reiterate that you’re less concerned with them coming up with the answers that you arrived at, as you are with them being able to explain where THEY saw the connection. Some of these verses could be easily applied to more than one situation.
So here are the five case studies and the verses that I would match them with. But, these are just my thoughts, and not necessarily the only correct answers. And as the teacher, I would write on the board the different types of “hopes” that are being presented by Jeremiah here. You can use my titles here if you like, or just go with the ideas your students present.
1. Something I was counting on hasn’t worked out, and the future I’d imagined suddenly feels out of reach. Is there anything good ahead?
My match would be C, Jeremiah 31:16-17, and I’d write “Hope for the future” on the board.
2. I’m facing a situation I can’t control, and my mind keeps returning to everything that could go wrong. Can I find peace while things are still uncertain?
My match would be B, Jeremiah 29:11, and I’d write “Hope for peace” on the board.
3. I’ve sincerely repented, but whenever I remember my mistakes, I worry that God still sees me as the person who made them. Will my past always define me?
My match would be D, Jeremiah 31:34, and I’d write “Hope for forgiveness”.
4. Someone’s words or actions have hurt me deeply. Even though time has passed, the pain still affects how I feel about myself and how easily I trust others. Can the Lord help my heart heal?
My match would be A, Jeremiah 17:14, and write “Hope for healing” on the board.
5. I’ve prayed for relief, but the difficulty continues, and I’m worn down by the thought of waking up tomorrow to face it all again. How can I face another day?
My match would be E, Lamentations 3:21-23, and write “Hope for a new day” on the board.
TAKE IT TO HEART:
Invite the students to look back over the passages and fill in the remaining two questions on the handout.
Which of these messages of hope do you most need to remember right now?
Tell them they won’t be asked to share their situation. Give them about a minute to choose a passage and reread it. Then have them privately finish this sentence on their handout:
When I’m tempted to lose hope, I want to remember __________.
TAKEAWAY:
To conclude, show this takeaway slide and say something like this:
“New every morning” is such a beautiful phrase and insight for the suffering soul.
If you need healing, if you’re worried about your future, if you’re trying to change, if you’ve repented but are still troubled by your past, or if you’re just wondering how to face another day, remember the promises of Jeremiah. I don’t know what each person in this room is facing. But I pray that you found some words from the Lord that you can hold onto. When life gets dark or discouraging, remember that there is always reason to find hope in Christ. For those who put their trust in their Savior, His love, His peace, His healing, and His promise for a “better end” are guaranteed. Why wouldn’t we find reason to hope.
OPTIONAL LESSON IDEAS:
VIDEO:
You could show the Church video “Good Things to Come,” where Elder Holland recalls an experience with his young family and his car that kept breaking down. The video is about five minutes long, and afterwards I would connect it back to the Lord’s words in Jeremiah 31:17: “There is hope in thine end.” I love that Elder Holland acknowledges that some blessings come soon, some come later, and some don’t come until heaven. We can trust the Lord’s promises even when we don’t know His timing.
QUOTE:
From Dallin H. Oaks:“When we trust in the Lord that all will work out, this hope keeps us moving. Hope is a characteristic Christian virtue. I know it will counter all current despairs. When you feel down, put faith and hope to work in your lives.”
(“Hope in Challenging Times”, The New Era, Oct. 2018)
LESSON #3 WRITTEN ON OUR HEARTS (Jeremiah 31)
TRUTH:
As we live our covenants with Jesus Christ, He can write His law in our hearts and change our desires.
Or, to put that a little more simply: The Lord wants His gospel to become part of who we are.
FIRE IN THE BONES:
For some fire in the bones, think about how many choices our students are going to make this week. What to watch. How to use their time. How to respond when somebody says something unkind. What to do when an opportunity to help someone comes along. We can’t possibly prepare them for every situation, and there isn’t a specific instruction in the scriptures for every choice they’ll face. But we can help them understand something that will go with them into all of those situations. The Lord wants His law written in their hearts. His teachings can become part of how they think and what they value. And what gives me a fire in the bones for this lesson is helping our students see that they can learn to make faithful choices themselves, with the guidance of the Holy Ghost and the strength of Jesus Christ.
WHAT THE TEACHER SHOULD KNOW:
Now for this final lesson, I’d like to focus on just one single verse in Jeremiah that I feel teaches a vital and important principle for Latter-Day Saints. That verse is Jeremiah 31:33. So this might be a good lesson if you know your time is going to be extra short. There’s a phrase here that I think has a great deal to say about the way we live the gospel and make our decisions. So, in this chapter, the Lord is promising to renew His covenant relationship with Israel, and listen to how He describes what He wants to do for His people:
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Now notice, where does He want His law written? In their inward parts. In their hearts. And I really love that image. The Lord’s teachings are meant to become a part of us. Part of what we believe, what we desire, and what guides our choices. Not just something that we live, but something that we are. We don’t just want his law written in a book, or in a pamphlet or even just in our minds, like we know about it, we’re familiar with it. No, we want it written in our hearts.
I mean, think about it this way. Wouldn’t it make some decisions easier if the Church just sent us a list every month of approved movies, television shows, music, and video games that they deemed appropriate for our spirits? If they gave us a modesty guide that explained things right down to the centimeter. A list of approved and unapproved activities to do on the Sabbath. Then, when I needed to make a decision, I could just pull out my list, and I’d know exactly what to do or not to do.
Well, the Church doesn’t do that, do they. Now don’t get me wrong, they do give us instruction and standards, but they are far from being exhaustive. And that’s where I think Jeremiah’s image can really help us. If the law is written in my heart, I understand something about who I am, who the Savior is, and what He’s asking me to become. I value His teachings, and I want to apply them. So when a choice comes along, I have something to go on. I can ask, “What has the Lord taught that could guide me here? What choice would honor Him? What influence am I inviting into my life? What gospel principles can help to guide my decisions? “
King Benjamin makes a related point in Mosiah 4:29–30. He tells his people that he can’t list all the ways that somebody might commit sin. There are too many to number. So what does he do? He tells them to watch their thoughts, words, and deeds, observe the commandments of God, and continue in their faith in Jesus Christ. So, he gives them guidance that they can carry into situations he hasn’t specifically described.
For example, if I understand and value honesty, that can guide me in a thousand situations. A school assignment. A conversation with my spouse. A report at work. Something I’m selling. I don’t need a separate commandment for every possible way I could deceive somebody. I can take what the Lord has taught about honesty and apply it to the decision in front of me.
A great example of this dynamic is the new For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. It’s a little bit different from the one that I knew when I was a teenager. The guide teaches truths about Jesus Christ, our identity, and our divine potential, and then invites us to use those truths to make our choices. Elder Uchtdorf explained this approach in his October 2022 message, “Jesus Christ Is the Strength of Youth.” The invitation is to seek the Lord’s will and live in a higher and holier way. That requires us to think, seek the Spirit, and take responsibility for our decisions. And although the guide is addressed to youth, adults need that same capacity. We encounter situations in our families, our work, and our Church service that require us to understand and apply gospel principles.
There’s one more detail in Jeremiah’s verse that I’d want us to notice. Who does the writing? The Lord. He says, “I will put my law in their inward parts.” So this is something we can ask Him to help us with. We can learn His word, act on what we understand, and invite the Holy Ghost to help those teachings reach more deeply into our hearts.
Now I wouldn’t take this to mean that every decision will suddenly become obvious or that every feeling we have is the voice of the Spirit. Sometimes we need to study, pray, seek counsel, and take time. And we keep returning to the scriptures and the teachings of prophets. Those are some of the very sources through which the Lord teaches us His will. But I do believe that as His law becomes more deeply written in our hearts, we become better prepared to make faithful choices. We’re learning to understand His way, value it, and live it. That’s what I’d want our students to see here.
Here’s a way we might approach this lesson then.
ICEBREAKER:
For the icebreaker, I might begin with this hypothetical question: “Would you like it if the Church sent you a list every month of every movie, television show, song, and video game that was appropriate for you?” If they sent out a specific Sabbath Day guide that listed every activity that was appropriate or inappropriate to take part in on that day. For scripture study, what if there were a rule telling you exactly how many verses to read each day and how long to think about them?” Now, just let them react for a moment and see what they say. Some might like the convenience of that while others might find it overwhelming and a little patronizing. Others might recognize just how enormous that list or rulebook would have to be.
Then ask:
What do you think might be good about that arrangement?
What might be bad?
Take a few brief responses. They might say that it would make some decisions quicker and easier. You wouldn’t even have to think about the decision. You just look it up, and follow. But what might be bad about that? Some possible responses: We wouldn’t learn how to make decisions ourselves. We might follow the rule without understanding why. We might start looking for loopholes. Instead of asking what would honor the Lord, we might ask, “Where does it specifically say I can’t?” Or we might start judging everybody else by the checklist. We could become more interested in measuring other people’s behavior than examining our own hearts.
Then explain: “Well, the Lord has given us teachings that can help us in far more situations than any list could cover. And Jeremiah gives us a beautiful picture of where He wants those teachings to be. Let’s take a look.”
SEARCH ACTIVITY:
Have your students turn to Jeremiah 31:33 and explain that the Lord is promising a renewed covenant relationship with His people, and ask them to read the verse with this question in mind:
Where does the Lord want His law written?
Give them a moment to read, and invite someone to share. And they should see the answer: in our inward parts, in our hearts. Write IN OUR HEARTS on the board.
Then ask:
What do you think he means by having the law written in our hearts, rather than in a book or in our minds?
And I would try to help my students understand that, if the law is written on my heart, then I don’t need a giant rulebook governing every aspect of my choices. I don’t need all the specifics. I’ll know more instinctively how I should act and what I should do in any given situation, because I understand who I am, what my purpose is, and what I represent and stand for. I go to my heart for the answer, not necessarily the written page.
PUT THE PRINCIPLE INTO PRACTICE:Time: 7 min
Now let’s give our students a chance to try this. You can cut this handout into its three different parts and hand one out for each student or group.
THE GROUP CHAT
A conversation turns into jokes about someone who isn’t there. Nobody has specifically asked you to join in, but reacting or adding a comment would help you fit in. You need to decide what to do next.
THE EVENING
You have some free time and are choosing what to watch. A program is popular, and you’re curious about it, but what you’ve heard about its content gives you some concerns. Nobody has given you a specific answer about that title.
THE PERSON WHO NEEDS HELP
You’ve finished the practical task you agreed to do for someone. As you’re leaving, they begin talking about something that’s troubling them. You have some flexibility in your schedule, but you’d rather get home. The task is done; now there’s another choice to make.
Give them these two questions to discuss:
What teaching of Jesus Christ could guide your choice?
What’s one action that could put that teaching into practice?
Encourage them to identify an actual teaching or principle. For example, love your neighbor, treat people as you would want to be treated, seek what is virtuous, or help bear one another’s burdens. We want them to connect their choice to something the Lord has taught.
Give them about two minutes to consider their situation. Then invite two pairs to share, preferably from different situations. Keep each report brief.
As they share, connect their answers back to Jeremiah. They’re taking a teaching of the Savior and considering how it can guide them. You don’t need to make everyone choose the exact same action. Help them see the connection between the truth and a faithful response.
One final truth to mention here if you have time. Draw their attention to WHO does the writing according to verse 33. The Lord says He’ll do it. You could explain: “We can ask Him for help with this. We want His teachings to become convictions that influence how we live.”
I WILL GO AND DO:
Have them ponder how they would finish the following prompts.
One choice I’m facing is __________.
A gospel truth that can guide me is __________.
To seek the Lord’s help and act on that truth, I will __________.
Give them about two minutes to ponder. If someone isn’t sure which teaching applies, their first step could be to study, pray, or ask a trusted person for counsel. They don’t need to force an immediate answer.
TAKEAWAY:
To end the lesson, show the takeaway slide and conclude with something like this:
I love Jeremiah’s picture of the Lord writing His law in our hearts.
There will always be situations that aren’t described in exact detail on a written page. But we can take the Savior’s teachings into those situations. We can remember who we are, seek the Holy Ghost, and consider what kind of person He’s helping us become. I think that’s a wonderful expression of trust. He’s inviting us to learn, think, seek His help, and choose faithfully.
So keep the choice you wrote about today in mind. Return to the truth that can guide it. Ask the Lord for understanding and willingness, and take the step you identified. We can keep studying His word and listening to His prophets while learning to apply what they teach. May His law be written in our hearts, and may our choices reflect it.
OPTIONAL LESSON IDEAS:
TEACHER INSIGHT:
Another possible activity you could do that helps to illustrate this principle is to make a comparison between the older For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and the current version of it. Allow them to compare and contrast the way in which a particular topic was treated in the older version as opposed to the newer. And what they’ll see is that the older version is a little more prescriptive and specific in its guidance. You might ask:
Why do you think the leadership of the Church made these changes? And, you know is it an indication of God changing his standards? Is this a lowering of expectations? Did the earlier versions of the pamphlet “get it wrong”, and now the Church is correcting itself? What do they think? And allow your students to share their thoughts on that. But as the teacher, I would be sure to offer this as a possible explanation. I don’t think this is an illustration of lowering the bar at all or God changing his mind on things. On the contrary, I believe this represents a major raising of the bar, OR a sign of the increasing spiritual maturity of our youth. This is God encouraging us to allow the law to be written on our inward parts. These updates place a far more significant amount of the responsibility for the choices we make on our own shoulders. It’s the difference between following a specific rule and following a principle. I think it’s far easier to follow rules than to follow principles. What I feel is happening here is God saying, “You have the Spirit. The Holy Ghost that one person has is the same Holy Ghost as another. And you can all come to know what you should do in whatever choice that’s placed before you if you appeal to that power.
QUOTE:
For a quote, Joseph Smith was once asked how it was possible for him to lead such a large and diverse group of people. He described his approach to leading the Saints this way:
“I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.”
(Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, chapter 24, “Leading in the Lord’s Way.”)
In other words, they have the law written on their hearts, therefore, they know what to do. They don’t need to be micromanaged.
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