May 26th, 2011
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

The Prophets We Deserve

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Opening Prayer

Loving Lord, You call me by name and You make me new. I wait now for Your word.

Read JEREMIAH 23:9-40

[9] Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words. [10] The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. [11] “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the LORD. [12] “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the LORD. [13] “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. [14] And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.” [15] Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: “I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.” [16] This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. [17] They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’ [18] But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? [19] See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. [20] The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. [21] I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. [22] But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. [23] “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away? [24] Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. [25] “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ [26] How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? [27] They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. [28] Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD. [29] “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? [30] “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. [31] Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’ [32] Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD. [33] “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ say to them, ‘What oracle? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’ [34] If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is the oracle of the LORD,’ I will punish that man and his household. [35] This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ [36] But you must not mention ‘the oracle of the LORD’ again, because every man’s own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God. [37] This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is the LORD’s answer to you?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ [38] Although you claim, ‘This is the oracle of the LORD,’ this is what the LORD says: You used the words, ‘This is the oracle of the LORD,’ even though I told you that you must not claim, ‘This is the oracle of the LORD.’ [39] Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your fathers. [40] I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace-everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Search me, God, and know my heart” (Psa. 139:23).

Think Further

Now God, through Jeremiah, turns his attention to another set of leaders: the prophets. As one who shares their vocation, Jeremiah is heartbroken (9) at their failures. They have been sidetracked by their own interests, and used the power of their position for their own unjust means. Even if we do not feel as deeply as Jeremiah, there is sadness when a Christian leader abuses his or her power—and it is not as uncommon as we would like it to be.

The prophets of Jeremiah’s time were not listening to God. The task of the prophet is to stand “in the council of the Lord” (18). The prophet listens in to the divine cabinet meeting and from there conveys God’s perspective to God’s people. Amos also understood this, but the prophets of whom Jeremiah complained were listening to another voice: their own. They “live a lie” (14), and, in a vivid turn of phrase, they “run with their [own] message” (21). As a result, their words “distort the words of the living God” (36). God promises to “forget” such prophets (39) so decisively that their shame ironically lives on. It is better to be remembered by God than to be remembered in shameful ways by history.

As the people suffer under the failure of kings to rule justly, so do they also suffer when their prophets speak the “delusions of their own minds” (26). But from v. 33 onwards, the complicity of the people with the false messages of their prophets also gradually becomes apparent (“these people,” v. 33; “anyone else,” v. 34). They have chosen lies over truth, and for that God holds them responsible (34). Ultimately our leaders can only lead us astray because we allow them to.

Apply

Are you ever tempted by your own self-interest to distort the Gospel of Jesus? Can the delusions of our own minds obscure the message of Christ to those whom we encounter?

Closing prayer

Lord, I pray for Christian leaders with a prophetic ministry in the church and the world. Give them courage and clarity to speak to the issues that break Your heart.

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