TEXTS AND APPLICATION: I write this devotion today as one who preaches the Word of God almost every week. I love this task — but I have been challenged in the book of Jeremiah to make sure I’m always preaching nothing but the Word of God. What I am struck by is the vast number of times this book records sayings like, “the word that came from the Lord” and “this is the Lord’s declaration.”
In only these three chapters are these recurrences:
Jer. 35:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.
Jer. 35:12-13 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says . . . this is the Lord’s declaration.”
Jer. 35:17 This is what the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says.
Jer. 35:18-19 “This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says . . . this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says . . .”
Jer. 36:1 This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
Jer. 36:4 Baruch wrote on a scroll all the words the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah.
Jer. 36:27 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
Jer. 36:29-30 This is what the Lord says: . . . Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah . . .
Jer. 37:2 He [Zedekiah] and his officers and the people of the land did not obey the words of the Lord that He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer. 37:6-9 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says . . . This is what the Lord says . . .”
When Zedekiah later summoned Jeremiah from prison to ask if there was a word from the Lord, the prophet could respond with certainty, “There is” (Jer. 37:17). As a preacher, that’s the kind of confidence I want. I want to make sure I speak only the Word of the Lord. It’s so easy to divert from that commitment, though, and unintentionally tell more about me and my ideas than God’s. I want to be ever aware of that dangerous tendency.
If you are a preacher, I trust you share that same commitment. If you are not a preacher, would you take time now to pray that commitment for those who preach the Word in your church? Anything less than the Word produces no lasting results.
PRAYER: “Lord, don’t let me ever speak a Word other than what You want me to speak. I pray that pastors all over the world will know the power of the Word.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Jeremiah 38-40; Psalm 74, 79