Day 15: Jeremiah
14:1-22
Although our sins testify against us, do something, Lord, for the sake
of your Name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against You (Jeremiah
14: 7, NIV).
It
appears that the people of Judah are finally seeking God and willing to turn to
Him and acknowledge how they have sinned against God but now God won’t receive
them. That seems crazy, right? In the
last couple of chapters God has been urging them to return to Him but now that
they are He will not hear their cries. The reason for this is because they’re
repentance is not sincere. The only reason they are turning to God at this time
is because of the famine and drought that have hit the town and they’re calling
out to God because they’re in trouble. The reality is if God were to answer
them and remove the present trouble they would go right back to their
idolatrous ways because they didn’t really want God they just wanted the
problems to go away. We have to remember that God knows everything about us and
that includes the intentions of our hearts. He knows when our motives are wrong
and when we are seeking Him with a phony heart. How often do we seek God only
when a problem arises? We tell Him “if You get me out of this situation I’m going
to really live for You and I’m going to really surrender to You” and if He does
it we go back to doing the same things. That is not a sincere repentance but
instead it’s like pulling out a get me out of jail repentance card so I can get
back to being comfortable doing whatever I want to do.
When we
read about the consequences that will arise for Judah due to their disobedience,
it is very similar to what is shown in Revelations for the people who refused
to follow Christ. There will come a time where all those that rebelled will cry
out to God and He will not answer. They will want to die because what is going on
in the land is so bad but God will not allow them to and they will have to
suffer through it (Revelation 9:6). What we are reading in Jeremiah is not just
something that happened to Judah in the past and we don’t need to worry about
it because it doesn’t impact us. As we’re reading through these chapters it
should urge us to acknowledge the sin in our own hearts and to repent quickly
as God’s judgment is real. Our repentance however must be from a sincere place
and we must not continue in that sin as God answers us. Don’t wait until you’re
in a rough situation to seek God; now is the opportune time to turn to Him and
obey.
What verse spoke to you
the most from this chapter? Be sure to share it to encourage someone
else! Tag me so that I can share it as well (IG: @angel_cheron. Twitter:
@angelcheron. Facebook: Angel Cheron and add #ChangedHearts #Jeremiah)
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- Changed Hearts: Matters of the Heart: April 19, 2014 @ 10 am EST! http://www.changedheartsunited.com/matters-of-the-heart.html
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