February 14, Jeremiah 13
Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness.... - Jeremiah 13:15-16
How many times a day do you suppose you are warned? You get up every morning from your alarm clock’s warning. If we could see it, the fine print on medicine bottles would warn us about dire possible side effects. The warnings are everywhere, from toxic household products to the hot cup of coffee we get at a drive-through. Our weather radios and other devices warn us about the potential for stormy weather. Signs along the highway warn us about hazardous road conditions ahead. Somewhere along the way, most of us have learned the hard way that it's usually in our own best interest to heed those warnings.
A loving parent warns his child who does not know better about things they should not touch or eat. In a similar but much greater way, God warns people he loves about lurking spiritual dangers that will harm or destroy them. God gave Israel the Law with its prohibitions to restrain his people from plunging headlong into sins that would destroy them. He told them his commandments were for their good. He sent his faithful messengers the prophets to warn his stubborn, disobedient people to turn back to him when they went after worthless idols and
forsook God.
Jeremiah delivered clear and repeated warnings to God's idolatrous people. He pleaded with them and encouraged them again and again. But their pride kept them from heeding the warnings and submitting to God.
God gave Jeremiah a pair of images to illustrate the ruined condition of the nation and the imminent threat of divine judgment that God would soon carry out. He told Jeremiah to get a new loincloth, wear it for a while and then bury it. Jeremiah obeyed. He also obeyed when God told him to go back and dig up the loincloth, which by that time was ruined and useless. God told him that Israel and Judah were like that loincloth, once very near the Lord, but now ruined beyond repair.
He also instructed Jeremiah to tell the people, "Every jar shall be filled with wine." The people interpreted Jeremiah's words about the wine jars to mean that their prosperity and drunken pleasure would continue. But those jars were really full of the wine of God's wrath. He was about to pour that bitter wine out on his rebellious people.
Jeremiah warned them that their pride was what kept them from hearing and submitting to God's words. Their leaders had failed, and God sent a special warning addressed to the king and the queen mother that the crowns were about to come off their heads, and they would
accompany their people into exile when the Babylonians came. These invaders were once treated like trusted friends by Hezekiah, who showed them all his wealth. But now those
"friends" would rule over them.
Jeremiah faithfully delivered the threatening messages from God to the people, but he couldn't obey for them. He told them to repent and give glory to God before their time ran out. The prophet would grieve when the awful things he predicted came true and their nation was dismantled and their holy city was desecrated and destroyed.
With equal clarity and loving compassion, God calls us to humble ourselves and turn to him. Our pride may be about our own intellect. It could be the force that drives our self-righteousness. But whatever form it takes, pride keeps us from listening to God's word and turning back to him.
God wanted the people of Israel and Judah to cling to him like Jeremiah's loincloth clung to the prophet's waist. When we refuse to humble ourselves and heed God's call, we rob the Lord of the praise he is due and the glory he should have from our lives. We also rob ourselves of the best blessings God wants to give us when we are too proud to repent and return to him.
May the good Lord have mercy on us and deliver us from our own foolishness when we do not listen to warnings from him.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—February 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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