God Abandons the Pious

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Opening Prayer

Shepherd God, when I am weak You lift me up. I turn to You for strength, hope, and direction.

Read Jeremiah 7:21-29

^[21] “‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ^[22] For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ^[23] but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. ^[24] But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. ^[25] From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. ^[26] But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’ ^[27] “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. ^[28] Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. ^[29] “‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

Meditate

Like Judah, we can have “stubborn inclinations” (24) and be “stiff-necked” (26) toward God. Rather, we should be walking in all the ways he commands us (23)!

Think Further

It seems as if it is always easier to be religious than to be obedient to God. The focus on ritual and burnt sacrifices seems to be a preoccupation of the people of Judah, yet they follow ritual with complete indifference to what God has actually asked of them. As covenant people, they have been shown ways of obedience so they can enjoy closeness with God and know peaceful lives (23). But for generation after generation the people have debased their relationship with God, following their own inclinations, while still expecting God’s blessing. Even when prophets are sent to warn them, they do not listen. Jeremiah is not the first prophet to reproach them. Their shallowness and hypocrisy had already been attested by Isaiah (Isa. 58).

Jeremiah’s frustration is evident. God tells him that he will be ignored by the people (27,28). They are no longer capable of even speaking truth. So now Jeremiah’s message is not just one of warning, but of lament. The rituals they really need are rituals of mourning (“cut off your hair,” 29), returning to the place where they consulted and worshipped pagan gods (“the barren heights”) so they can bemoan what they have done. Their blatant, impenitent sin has caused God to withdraw from his people.

The abandonment that Judah is about to experience has been brought on by themselves. Sin always distances us from God. We know this in our own lives. When Jesus experienced being forsaken on the cross (Matt. 27:46) he was taking on himself the sins of the world (2 Cor. 5:21). Yet the abandonment that Christ faced means we never have to, and this can bring encouragement when we feel down and God seems absent. When sin no longer separates us, God is always with us and can at any time draw us into new hope and peace.

Apply

What message do you feel God is trying to get to you? What are you doing about it (22,23)?

Closing prayer

Patient One, forgive me for my self-will. Sensitize me to Your Holy Spirit and Your guidance and grant me a new heart for obedience to You.

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