Proper 20: Old Testament, Jeremiah 11:18-20                 

Jeremiah 11:18-20 

Our Old Testament reading for the week places before us a common biblical theme: “When God speaks, hear and heed or else.” This theme is commonly misunderstood from the perspective of “do the right thing and you will be God’s people,” instead of the correct idea. And that is, “do the right thing, giving evidence that you ARE God’s people.” In other words, it is a natural (supernatural) thing for God’s people to hear and heed their Master’s voice.

Earlier in the chapter God points Jeremiah to his ancestors and their stubbornness in turning away from His marvelous promises, “ that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day” (Jeremiah 11:5). Their wilderness wanderings were as much about wandering away from the LORD’s voice as the waywardness of their steps. And it was costly beyond their imaginations.

Jeremiah is much like the Savior. His Savior and ours. “But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter” (v.19), rings in our ears much like the prophecy of Isaiah 53. And it should. Not only is their opposition when God speaks, but because He puts His words in the mouth of faithful servants, it stokes the flames of hatred for the truth too hard to hear. And men are wont to kill the source of the message as much as they spurn the message. So with Jeremiah.

Pray for your pastor. Pray for teachers who bring the Word of God to you and your families. Their message marks them with the world’s (and Satan’s) hatred. And their planned end is to put the messengers to death, even if they would never admit it, nor realize it presently. Fallen man does not want the truth. And death to the messengers.