A Call for Integrity
Opening Prayer
Lord, when You are seeking one to walk in Your ways, may You find what You are looking for in me.
Read Jeremiah 5:1-13
[1] “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. [2] Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.” [3] LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. [4] I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. [5] So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. [6] Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many. [7] “Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. [8] They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife. [9] Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? [10] “Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD. [11] The people of Israel and the people of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD. [12] They have lied about the LORD; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. [13] The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.” Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What is God seeking?“You desire truth in the inward being” (Psa. 51:6, NRSV), King David once prayed in an act of sincere repentance. But now, in Jeremiah’s time, despite God’s corrective measures (3) there is not even a hint of repentance. There is no “desire for truth,” no moral or spiritual integrity. Yet God still holds back from all-out judgment, hoping to find at least one upright person in Jerusalem (1; here the story echoes Abraham’s plea for Sodom in Gen. 18:26-32). But God’s patience was misinterpreted as indifference (12; compare with 2 Pet. 3:8-10). Reluctantly on God’s part, invasion and exile are now unavoidable (6; also 14-17). If the church is to speak out effectively in our own day, it must first examine itself for hypocrisy and ensure it speaks and acts with integrity. And what is true for the church and those who lead it publicly must also be true for individual believers in our own smaller spheres of activity and witness, whether that be at home, in the workplace or in our leisure pursuits.
Apply
Be a person of your word. Let your actions reflect a heart of truth. Entrust yourself to God and do what is right.
Closing prayer
You are always seeking reconciliation. Thank You that You held nothing back to make it possible to be reconciled to me.
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