Jeremiah 21:2,5,12

The Babylonians are upon the Israelites. They are attacking near the walls, and some Israelites are going outside the walls to attack them even. So King Zedekiah sends two priests (one of them being the priest who ordered Jeremiah to be put in stocks!) to Jeremiah to ask him to inquire of the LORD about the attackers.

‘Please inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that the king may go away from us.’ (Jeremiah 21:2)

So now this king, after reigning over and supporting a rebellious, idolatrous people, comes to ‘acknowledge’ God’s greatness and His wonderful works – just as they are about to be decimated! Now, will God relent finally and fight for the Israelites against the incoming foes?

‘I myself will fight against you with a strong arm, even in anger and fire and great wrath.’ (Jeremiah 21:5)

It seems not. What is the problem? Can’t we call on God at anytime and be forgiven? Indeed, doesn’t it say ‘He who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’? You see, the problem here is that there is no true repentance. Zedekiah hesitantly refers to the past great acts of God and merely wonders if God may do so again. He has no solid foundation for this belief because he has not repented – he is not walking with the Lord. Thus he says ‘Perhaps…’. As people of the LORD, the Israelites were walking in the completely wrong direction, offering themselves up to idols and all other kinds of rebellious behaviour. Now, to recognize in word that the God could do awesome things was never going to save them from the chastisement of that awesome God! They needed to repent, to turn away, in deed, not only in word. Thus we find:

‘O house of David! Thus says the LORD:
Execute judgment in the morning;
And deliver him who is plundered
Out of the hand of the oppressor,
Lest My fury go forth like fire
And burn so that no one can quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.’ (Jeremiah 21:12)

For us as Christians, we can often live a double-life, as it were. We go to church on Sundays and proclaim the goodness and majesty of God. When trouble arises we also think of all the good God can do. But our lives don’t reflect that awesome majesty of God. If we want to turn around, if we want to be heading the same direction as God, it is not enough to recognize in word the goodness of God. We must make changes in our lives, in our actions, by His mercy and grace. That is the only path forward. We cannot neglect and ignore those parts of our lives we know we constantly fail in. We can’t sort of restrict those sites and then praise God outside of those areas. Eventually, they will take over, unless we honestly ask God to help clean those things up for us – and take positive action against it! He will be faithful to help you, if you have an honest heart.

Isaiah 29:11-14

‘The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying “Read this, please.”
And he says, “I cannot for it is sealed.”
Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”
And he says, “I am not literate.”
Therefore the Lord said:
“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honour Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
Therefore…’ (Isaiah 29:11-14)

These are strong, strong words. Isaiah is specifically talking about the ‘prophets’ and ‘seers’ here (verse 10). They were supposed to listen to ‘god’ or nature to predict future events and ascertain wisdom. However, from this passage it is very clear that in fact they were missing wisdom altogether. The picture of the sealed book is meant to suggest that there are two types of people that cannot see God’s wisdom. There are people (I think probably specifically the prophets) that know how to understand or know God’s wisdom and truth but from whom it was sealed, ie they weren’t really listening to God, weren’t in the spirit, they were thinking in ‘human logic’. Then there were the people who thought in a completely different way, and so could not comprehend in the slightest God’s truth (I think probably referring to the seers).

God, however, places both of them in the same category for the second part of the passage. ‘Inasmuch as these people…’ (verse 13). He says that what they say, or even how they may act, is ‘honourable’ to God, but God knows that their heart is not in it! Although they say all the right things, or at least a semblance of the right things, they don’t really passionately believe it. They don’t want it. That is why they couldn’t ‘read the book’ as it were. We don’t find God’s truth so much as He reveals it to us when He sees that our hearts are in the right place and our lives honour Him.

Furthermore, it says that their fear toward God is taught by the commandment of men. So basically, they way they act and speak all righteous and stuff doesn’t come from a heart toward God but is just basically following orders from other people! Of course, today, this can happen many ways. It could be enforced, it could be a peer pressure thing, it could be just a natural copy of your parents. But any of those ways amounts to having a fear toward God that is not from the heart, but from the ‘commandment’ of men.

Therefore, let us examine ourselves before God today to see whether our heart is truly for Him. Is it our sole desire? Is it what we live for? For if we are but honouring Him with our lips, then we are fooling ourselves. And God says,

‘Therefore…the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.’ (Isaiah 29:14)

God will hide His truths from us if we are fooling ourselves and doing things our own way.