Welcome to Nick Stevens, long-time member at Hope Church as well as Chair of the Hope Church Leadership Team. He will share his reflections on the readings from Jeremiah 1-6.SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 6:1-15
OBSERVATION:
(ver 1-15) As one begins reading the words of this chapter, one can almost hear the beating of a distant drum…… the beating of drums and the sound of destruction… the invasion is coming. One can sense that something is about to happen …..the once faint beating sound, seems to be getting faster and louder with every verse. The time for words (warnings) is almost over for Israel. God has looked, seen, and decided that (ver 13) “everyone is given to covetousness, from the least of them to the greatest of them, from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.”
APPLICATION:
Is this happening today as well? Are the hearts and minds of the people of this world getting more and more corrupt every day? Is God getting ready to beat the drum of destruction for this world also? Are the end times near? Is the time for warnings, warnings to repent almost over? Have we as Christians done what God wants of us ….to spread the good news of the gospel to all those who need to hear it? Are we reacting with enough urgency and desperation to get it done?
PRAYER:
Lord, you know your plan and your timing for it. Please urge us on in the areas where we need to have more urgency ….where putting I off till later is wrong, whether that be in our own personal lives or as a Christian community.
6This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.
They opressed the very ones they were called to take special care of. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The priests did not care for the money flowed in the temple.
7 As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness.
Think of that image…. the function of the well is to supply water, enough for caravans and villages. Their diseased actions were so pervasive that it flowed freely from them. Their hearts were hardened to the point they could not see how to seek God’s Shalom in their communities, in thier city and as a nation of God.
10Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed/covered.
Another example of how they could no longer discern the will of God because their hearts were closed to the leading of the Spirit. It was closed to the prophets and it was forsaken by kings.
14They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.
They show lip service to the Shalom that God wanted them to bring to the city they lived in and to the surrounding nations. They treat the wounds of their society without going after the cause, the disease. It is like trying to treat cancer with a band aid. To truly erradicate their disease they would have to focus back on their covenental obligations.
15No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.
An unrepentant heart can not be molded or shaped. It is not malliable. The only way to affect change is to break the stiff, hard heart so the pieces, as in pottery, can be used again to shape a vessel pleasing to the Lord God Almighty. Praise be to the King because he is worthy and because it is good to praise him. It keeps us humble and moldable in the hands of the potter.
As a parent repeatedly warns his child – how many times have I not told you? – so the Lord our God repeatedly tells of the devastation to come since we do not listen to Him. All of His children have gone their own way, astray, doing what is right in their own eyes since they have become a law unto themselves. There is no room in the inn – in their hearts for the living God. Their way is their ruin. God will judge all, both great and small. Oh that the people would hear and listen, for there is mercy for all who hear His Word. All those who have closed their ears will come to nothing.
Open the eyes of Your people Lord also today that they may see You. Open my eyes Lord. Open my hearts Lord. I need to see You each and every day. I need Your strengthening powers in all I do and say. Work in me by Your Spirit so I walk in the Way everyday, living for Jesus.
He speaks, and, listening to His voice,
New life the dead receive,
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
The humble poor believe.
Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,
Your loosened tongues employ;
Ye blind, behold your Savior come,
And leap, ye lame, for joy.