Friday 18th September
Read Jeremiah 9:7-12
“Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘See, I will refine and test them,
for what else can I do
because of the sin of my people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceitfully.
With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbours,
but in their hearts they set traps for them.
9 Should I not punish them for this?’
declares the Lord.
‘Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?’
10 I will weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands.
They are desolate and untravelled,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds have all fled
and the animals are gone.
11 ‘I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah
so that no one can live there.’
12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?” (NIVUK)
The themes Jeremiah returns to are now familiar to us. By this stage I am sure they are familiar to his listeners. The message is straightforward. The times are coming when God will refine His people to see if any have anything pure within them. But there will be nothing left. The land will be empty. No humans, no beasts, just a haunting uninhabitable landscape. But Jeremiah continues to preach, inexorably and thanklessly, to a people who do not want to listen. Truth is unwelcome.
Consider Paul’s final words to Timothy and ponder the echoes…
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5) (NIVUK)
Some things don’t change. Have we got ears to hear?
