SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 23
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. 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. [Jeremiah 23:21-22]
This passage begins with a promise that the Lord Himself will gather His sheep, because the shepherds He put in place have failed Him.
It goes on to show how the shepherds (here the prophets, but also the priests and rulers) have rejected God and His truth, and substituted their own ideas and beliefs.
They do not listen to God because they do not belong to God, they do not care about God or what He says – therefore they do not speak for God.
Harsh judgment indeed!
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”[John 8:44-47]
Jesus makes the same claim against the religious leaders of His day.
They do not listen to God, they do not belong to God, they do not speak for God but for their father, the father of lies – harsh judgment indeed.
The leaders did not accept Jeremiah’s message, and they did not accept Jesus’ message – they wanted a message to make them feel better, a message that promised peace and happiness and ease and comfort.
What kind of shepherd am I, what kind of prophet am I?
What message am I bringing, whose message am I sharing?
Our time is no different, people today do not want to hear God’s message.
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. [2 Timothy 4:3]
But we are not called to tell people what they want to hear, but what they need to hear.
We need to stand in the Lord’s counsel, receive His message, and speak it, whether we or others want to hear it or not.
What kind of shepherd am I, what kind of prophet am I?
What message am I bringing, whose message am I sharing?
PRAYER:
Lord, today I hear You calling me to spend time in Your counsel, to make sure that my message is from You.
Woe to the shepherds who are scattering and destroying the sheep. They have replaced the Word for a lie. They have replaced God’s Word with their own Words. They have followed their own desires, their own dreams, their own ways. But God will raise the right Shepherd – the Lord Our Righteous Saviour.
Whose voice are we listening to today? The Lord our God says, This is the Way. Walk in it. But we say, My way. How often do we also speak of visions from our own mind and not from the Lord our God? To justify our cause and/or our actions, we say that the Lord our God told me to do this and then we follow the stubbornness of our own hearts. Who can argue the way/words of the Lord? Not only do they lead others astray but also themselves. Their god is an idol within their pocket to be used at their own whim.
The office of the all believer os that of prophet, priest and king. I too am a shepherd. Am I wagging my own tongue leading the kids astray? Or am I speaking the Living Word of the Lord – the Lord God Almighty. How am I shepherding the flock today?
May I never distort His Word, but hear His Word say This is the Way. Walk in it!
Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord,
Thy Word is a light to my way;
It shines in my soul like a star by night,
And comforts and cheers me by day.
Refrain
O wonderful, wonderful Word,
My treasure, my hope, and my stay;
Each promise recorded delights my soul,
And brightens each step of my way.
Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord,
And, trusting in Thee as my all,
Whatever of evil may cross my path,
I never, no, never can fall.
Refrain
Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord,
And oh, when Thy glory I see,
For all the rich blessings its truth has brought,
The praises will I give unto Thee.