Monday 14th September
Read Jeremiah 8:4-12
“‘Say to them, “This is what the Lord says:
‘“When people fall down, do they not get up?
When someone turns away, do they not return?
5 Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent of their wickedness,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Each pursues their own course
like a horse charging into battle.
7 Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
the requirements of the Lord.
8 ‘“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
for we have the law of the Lord,’
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
9 The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practise deceit.
11 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the Lord.” (NIVUK)
There is frustration and despair in the words of Lord to the people. Incredulity at their unwillingness to ‘turn’. Unlike the prodigal son, who realised when he was wallowing in the muck and turned back towards home, the people of Judah simply lie there. Common sense says to stand up (v4). Even the birds know how to find their way home (v7). But the refusal to repent is so ingrained, the wilful ignorance of the word of God (v9) and their desire to do what pleases them (v12), only ends one way.
It is not the attraction of sin, or the doing of sin, that separates a believer from an unbeliever. It is the willingness to repent of that sin – to turn and turn and turn and lean heavily upon the forgiveness one for us by Jesus.
