ESOCS Devotional 14 April 2024 – Examine Yourself
MEMORY VERSE: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place!”Jeremiah 7:3
TEXT: JEREMIAH 7:1-15
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’
5 “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute [a]judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.
12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim.
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Sometimes, we can get so relaxed with God and so comfortable in worship that we can yawn wide enough to eat a banana sideways. So, every now and then, God sends someone like the prophet Jeremiah to wake people up to the whole truth of God, to shake people out of their comfortable “I know it all already” posture with a strong prophetic word of confrontation and challenge. The same God who offers grace unconditionally also has expectations and demands that we are to meet.
God used Jeremiah like a smoke detector to wake up the sleeping people of Judah to the moral and ethical demands of faith that they were ignoring. They were treating the Ten Commandments like mere Ten Suggestions – obedience optional. They deceived themselves into thinking that saying religious words and singing religious songs and following religious rituals when they were at the Temple in Jerusalem gave them the freedom to do whatever they pleased the rest of the time.
Jeremiah was too faithful to God and too concerned for the people to let them go on in such an unfaithful and unethical manner; so, he preached God’s truth to them – right in the gate of the house of the Lord. What happened is found in Jeremiah 7:1-15. The scripture says, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place … Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!” only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord” (Jer. 7: 1-3; 9-11).
Please politely examine yourself today.
- You owe yourself the obligation to ensure that at all times you are blameless before God.
- Lord Jesus, I need you every hour to remain forthright before the Father.
Further Reading: 1 Samuel 15:1-11; Matthew 17:14-end; Galatians 5:2-12
ESOCS Devotional 14 April 2024
