February 11th, 2015
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Clinging to False Hopes

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Opening Prayer

Gracious God, You are my strength and my refuge. Keep me steady Lord, as I face the ups and downs of today.

Read Jeremiah 7:1-20

[1] This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: [2] “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. [3] This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. [4] 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, [6] 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, [7] then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. [8] But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. [9] “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, [10] and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”-safe to do all these detestable things? [11] Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. [12] “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. [13] While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. [14] Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. [15] I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’ [16] “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. [17] Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? [18] The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. [19] But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? [20] “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place-on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land-and it will burn and not be quenched.

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.

Meditate

Jeremiah spoke against religion as a substitute for obedience to God’s calling. That’s a trap we can very easily fall into.

Think Further

The people of Judah were in serious denial. They seemed to feel that, whatever their faults, the Temple in Jerusalem would protect them because God would not let his house be destroyed. However, their service of God had deteriorated into vain repetitions (4), and their actions flouted the very things God required of them. They ignored justice, they oppressed the vulnerable and they were idolatrous. And yet, they claimed the sanctity of the Temple and thought they were safe (10).

God’s response is to remind them of earlier times in Shiloh when wickedness had been punished and places of worship had been destroyed along with the city. Just as Israel had been sent into captivity, the same could happen to Judah. Because idolatry has gone too far, God will not listen to petitions on the people’s behalf. The picture of whole families caught up in provocative pagan worship is alarming (17,18). What they don’t seem to realize is that every act of idolatry damages the people themselves and incurs God’s punishment on the whole culture.

Jeremiah’s prophetic calling is primarily to bring God’s Word to the people and sometimes to intercede for them (18:20), but here their idolatry has violated God’s covenant so totally that he is asked not to pray on their behalf (16). With their level of delusion and denial of God, there seems to be no hope; they have cut themselves off from God. It makes us realize how crucial the good news of the Gospels is. Christ continues to intercede for his violators (Luke 23:34; Isa. 53:12) even when he has been tortured and crucified, and not only for them but for all who reject truth and worship. It takes the Son, our Savior, not a prophet, to atone for the depths of human sin and restore us to peace with God.

Apply

Christ alone is our place of safety and security. How would you rate your life in Christ? Prayerfully make any changes that are needed, and ask for a revitalization of your walk with the Lord.

Closing prayer

Holy Spirit, continue to press in on me in areas of my life that need changing. I want to fully trust in You and always be obedient to You.

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