Jeremiah 26 -- Check Out The Past

God sent Jeremiah to the Temple with another message.  Still God’s mercy and grace can be seen in His thoughts:  “Maybe they will listen and stop their evil ways.  If they will, I will change My mind…”

 

After Jeremiah delivered the message, though, the people grabbed him, intending to kill him.  The message had been, “Obey Me, or I will destroy My Temple as I destroyed My Holy Tent at Shiloh.”  The people charged Jeremiah with prophesying against Jerusalem.  In their minds, God’s covenant meant eternal protection for Jerusalem and the Temple, and when Jeremiah said the Temple would be destroyed, they felt he was saying God would break His covenant.  They seemed to forget that it was a conditional covenant, based on their obedience.

 

Of course, God knew their thoughts and what their response would be.  That’s why He’d had Jeremiah mention Shiloh.  In other words, there was historical precedent for this very event to happen.  God had done it before because the people had done it before – disobeyed.

 

This set them to thinking.  They remembered Micah prophesying that Jerusalem would be plowed like a field, and he wasn’t killed.  But then Uriah prophesied the same thing but he was killed.  Jeremiah had told them he was innocent, having only delivered God’s message, and that killing an innocent man would bring disaster upon them.  Now, they couldn’t decide whether to fish or cut bait, so they erred on the side of caution by not killing him.

 

The 2-ton elephant in the room, though, was that he’d not prophesied against Jerusalem – he’d prophesied against the people there.  They didn’t obey.  They didn’t repent.  They didn’t changed their hearts and lives.  And since they didn’t, God would bring the disaster He promised upon them.

 

When we are in sin, it is so very easy to try to deflect criticism – to do anything to get the spotlight off of ourselves.  No one who’s not obeying God wants to be told they need to change.  They attack the confronter as being judgmental or holier-than-thou, when they should be thanking God for sending someone to warn them.

 

Father, help me to be watching for warnings You send my way, and let me not deflect them, but instead act upon them in repentance.  Please direct the hearts of the citizens of our nation to do the same.  Thank You for Your longsuffering and Your mercy and grace.  Don’t give up on us!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford