February 7, Jeremiah 6
”Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.”
- Jeremiah 6:19
Fledgling reporters learn in Journalism 101 to answer the questions known as "the five W's and H" in the opening paragraph of their articles. Readers want to know who, what, when, where, why and how.
Jeremiah 6 answers questions like those in the form of a prophecy about what was going to happen, not a news report about what had already happened. Who? The Babylonian invaders. What? The coming destruction. When? Very soon. Where? In Jerusalem, the capital and heart of the nation. Why? Because they ignored and rejected God's way, choosing to follow their own thoughts instead. How? With siege, conquest and ruthless cruelty.
God sent the message out to more than just the doomed people in Israel. He wanted the whole earth, all the nations to know what happened to Israel and why it happened to them. So this chapter revealed the destruction that was coming to what was left of Israel, the identity of the destroyers and a description of the devastation they would leave in their wake.
God warned the people who would listen to Jeremiah to get out of town, to flee the vicinity of Jerusalem, which was located in the tribal land that had been allocated to Benjamin many centuries before. The alarm trumpet had sounded; the invaders were closing in on Jerusalem from the north. Like shepherds, the Babylonian generals would come with their flocks (their soldiers), and set up their tents, besieging the city. When the destruction began, it would be complete. The invaders would be like grape-gatherers, going over the vines a second time to glean all the fruit that remained after the first picking. They would overwhelm the land, a great wave of merciless cruelty.
This was going to happen to the people of Jerusalem because they had no regard for the Law of God, paid no attention to the warnings, and flatly refused to leave their sinful ways. They had become unjust, greedy and shameless in their flagrant sins. Their sinful lives made their offerings worthless in God's sight. When the invaders burned away the impurity of these rebellious people, there would be nothing of value left, only worthless residue.
Even at this late date, with the enemy forces advancing rapidly toward them, God called them to repentance and reiterated his threat to make the land a desolate, uninhabited place. But the people were too far gone in their rebellion to turn back. Their ears couldn't hear God's word any more. They scorned the message and the messenger. This devastation would be complete. It would devour young and old, male and female, small and great.
These people were defiant. Called to walk in God's good way, they said, "We will not walk in it." Called to pay attention to the warning, they said, "We will not pay attention." Because they paid no attention to God's words and rejected his law, God rejected them and gave them into the hands of their enemies.
The text verse reminds us that evil begins in our thoughts. God said he would punish them for the fruit of their devices (their thoughts, their plots). They were facing ruin because they would not listen to God, choosing to go their own way. God promised to put stumbling blocks in their chosen path. That's what happens to people who refuse the good way to which God calls them. They may go their own way, but they will stumble and fall and be destroyed.
You and I need to have a holy regard for the word of God. Respecting God's word and accepting it as the guiding counsel for our lives would save us from so much misery. When we hear a warning from the word of God, we need to take it seriously and change our course immediately. Let's remember that their ruinous rebellion began in their thoughts. We should not allow our minds to plot and plan to disobey God, because we are setting ourselves up to act on those plans, and receive the promised consequences.
The people of Jerusalem were headed to ruin. If we are humble and attentive to the lessons that are here for us in this record of their disaster, we can be saved from our own self-destruction.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—February 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
Kommentare