Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

Jeremiah’s prophecy in today’s passage is directed at those who claim to worship and serve God while worshiping and serving idols.  God tells Jeremiah not to pray for such people because they fail to understand that it is not God they are offending with their actions, but rather they are harming themselves (and perhaps God was telling Jeremiah not to pray for them until they came to understand that).  We should keep this in mind while we consider our actions.  We do that which seems righteous to us, but do we worship other gods at the same time?  If we do, the appearance of righteousness we cultivate so carefully will do us no good.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

In today’s passage Jeremiah addresses “church-goers”, those who regularly take part in official worship of God.  God sent him to stand in front of the temple gate and speak to those who went through the gate to worship God, which was more or less the equivalent of going to church services on Sunday.  Jeremiah told them that the temple would not protect them from God’s judgement and in the same way going to church services every Sunday, or even including weekday services, will not save us from God’s judgement.  In order to be saved from God’s judgement we must allow God’s Spirit to change our actions.  We must deal with others justly, we must not oppress those weaker than ourselves, and we must not follow other gods.  I want to expand on that last one a little bit.  Through Jeremiah, God tells us not to follow other gods, because doing so harms us.  The other things in that list of things bring harm to others, but following other gods brings harm to ourselves.

This passage highlights the danger of thinking that “faith” in Christ is all that you need.  We cannot earn our way into heaven by doing good deeds; none of us are good enough for that to work.  However, if our faith in Christ does not cause us to do good deeds, we do not really believe Him.  If we think we will get into heaven because we were wise enough to avoid the mistakes which others made that are leading them to Hell, we are mistaken.  We must seek to obey God and provide assistance to those in need.  Do not boast about your wisdom, nor about your strength, nor about your wealth.  None of those things will do you any good.  Instead, boast about the fact that God has chosen you to take part in the sufferings of Christ, boast about the fact that you serve a God who will accept any who humbly turn to Him.  I serve a great God, and so can anyone who chooses to do so, no matter how many mistakes they have made, no matter how bad the mistakes they made.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

Jeremiah prophesied against those who came to the temple to worship God.  They thought they were gaining God’s blessing by coming to the temple to offer sacrifices to God, without reforming their ways.  They thought that by offering sacrifices to God on the Holy Days, while stealing and murdering, committing adultery and perjury the rest of the time.  Jeremiah warned them that they were arousing God’s anger, but not because they were causing any harm to Him.  No, God was angry because they harmed themselves with their sins.  This passage presents two important lessons.  God does not give us commands arbitrarily.  He does not tell us “Do this, don’t do that,” just to make us jump to His tune.  He tells us “Do this” because He knows we will be better off if we do so.  And He tells us “Don’t do that” because He knows we will suffer if we do that.  God’s rules are not intended to limit our enjoyment of life, they are designed to enhance it.  But the prophet has a second message for us here: following the commands which cause other people to think we are righteous benefits us less than following those which no one notices us doing. Going to Church every Sunday won’t do you any good if you take advantage of people with limited options to save money.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 7-9.

Since I am going to be on vacation from July 31-August 9 I have already written my blog posts for these days and scheduled them to be posted.  However, I may not be able to post a link to them on FaceBook, Gab.com, or MeWe.com during every day (or any day) during this time period.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

The people to whom Jeremiah prophesied were convinced that they were safe from invasion because the Temple of God was in their midst, but God told them in no uncertain terms that they were mistaken.   Later, Jeremiah points out that some people think they gain God’s protection by making the correct sacrifices and following the correct rituals.  Today there are people who think they have God’s protection because they go to Church on Sunday, or because they attend BLM protests, or in some other way signal their “righteousness”.  Jeremiah tells them that God does not work that way.  Jeremiah reminds them once again (also reminding them that he is not the first to deliver this message) that God wants them to change their ways and deal with each other justly.

I was writing the above and was suddenly derailed when I reviewed the excerpt I had pulled out which framed my thoughts on this and saw the phrase I put in bold below:

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” ⁵ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.

All too often those of us who call others away from sin forget that part.  When we sin we do so to our own harm.  While treating others unjustly hurts them, and oppressing the powerless hurts them, it does as much harm to ourselves.  The same applies to other sins as well.

Overall, this passage can be frightening and depressing because Jeremiah essentially says it is too late to avert God’s coming judgement upon Jerusalem.  However, a closer reading reveals that Jeremiah was not saying it was too late.  He was saying that the people would not turn from their sins before it was too late.  None of them would acknowledge their wickedness, that they themselves had done evil, and turn from it, realizing the harm they had done to others.  Instead they would claim wisdom and follow after leaders who told them that their sins were godly.  They knew they were being deceived, but went along with it anyway.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

As I get older, I see more and more parallels between what the Old Testament prophets said to the people of their day and what is going on today.  Jeremiah told the people of Jerusalem that they must stop their evil thoughts and deeds, they must treat each other with justice, they must stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows, they must stop murdering, and they must stop harming themselves.  In each of these I see parallels today.  On the issue of justice, all too often I see people hear a story and demand punishment for the “perpetrator” before they hear all of the facts.  By the time the facts come out indicating that perhaps the “perpetrator” had done nothing wrong after all, they have moved on and are no longer paying attention.  On the issue of exploiting foreigners, all too often those who speak out against it end up as political allies of those who do the most exploiting.  Rather than demand that the laws be changed, they demand that they not be enforced.  And on the last one, when people call for individuals to stop harming themselves, they are shouted down as intolerant because those people should be allowed the freedom to do as they choose without being condemned.

Jeremiah goes on to tell how the people refuse to stand up for the truth.  Again what he writes reminds me of today, where you have to carefully evaluate every piece of information which you come across, not matter what the source.  People are more concerned with whether something supports their argument than with whether or not it is true.  You cannot trust your neighbor, not even your own brother.  We see it time and again, friends slander friends when it becomes advantageous to do so.  Let us separate ourselves from these sorts of actions and be sorry for the wrong we have done.  Let us humbly turn to the Lord and beg Him for forgiveness.  Let us not boast of our wisdom, riches, or power.  Instead, let us boast of God’s mercy to us.