Friday, June 4, 2021

Jeremiah 25:4-7 -- On a Better Way Forward

"And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt."
Jeremiah 25:4-7


I liked the phrase 'the works of your hands to your own hurt" in this selection.  I feel like that's exactly what we are doing to ourselves when we don't listen to God.  When we aren't putting God first, we're in control, and we unfailingly screw that up, harming ourselves because compared to God, we're stumbling around in the dark, tripping over things, harming ourselves and others.

It's not one of those things that we can solve by continuing to stumble around, figuring we'll eventually learn to avoid those obstacles in the blackness.  That's entirely the wrong goal anyway, which is actually pretty typical when we sever our connections to God... it's hard even to think straight.  The answer, of course, is to turn around and make it back to the light, turn it on, and let it illuminate our steps.  That's what God does for us, if we allow him to.

Today, let's hearken to God, and incline our ears to hear him.  Let's turn away from evil and stop trying to solve our problems by continuing to stumble around without the Lord's guidance.  Instead, let's ask for his help, and trust in his light, by which we can see a better way forward.

No comments:

Post a Comment