Reading Jeremiah 3:6-10, learning from the Lord’s work in others and repenting in more than appearance.

 

The early chapters of Jeremiah are first a call to Jeremiah to preach repentance to Judah in the final years before the Babylonians came, and the call to repentance itself. In fact repentance is perhaps the theme of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 1:10 the ministry of Jeremiah is set out. It is two thirds destruction and one-third restoration. Jeremiah was a man called to a life long, and he had a long ministry, call to preach the judgment of the Lord and to call the nation to repentance. His message was so unpopular that at times he was hated, certainly by the leaders, because he did not tell them what they wanted to hear, as opposed to false prophets who were also prophesying and saying that the Lord would deliver them and all would be well.

 

Looking at Jeremiah 3:6-10 Judah is called to learn from what happened to the northern kingdom of Israel. After Solomon the nation split into two parts, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. By this time Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrians, and so here the Lord is calling Judah to learn from what happened to Israel and so not to follow her in her sin, for as surely as Israel was destroyed so Judah would be destroyed.

 

Now in the time of Josiah, the time stamp for this passage, there indeed was a revival, a wave of repentance that swept the nation. Unfortunately this repentance was shallow, it was in appearance only. You might say the people became very zealous concerning the all the outward trappings of religion, they went to the temple and there were lots of sacrifices and so on, but there was no deep inner change. It would do nothing to forestall the judgment to come.

 

In the same way, the Lord seeks to speak to us. He does this in many, many ways, and one is by how he acts in others lives. We see some who by their walk with the Lord, and how the Lord works in them, are examples saying this is the way, follow me. Then there are others, who fall into sin, experience the judgment of the Lord and reap the consequences of their actions. How to we respond to these?

 

Do we take the warning? Do we learn the lesson? Or do we deceive ourselves, thinking it is ok as long as we keep up appearances. The Lord is the Lord and he is not deceived. Learning to hear his rebuke and direction are vital survival skills for us all.