READING: Jeremiah 7-9, 1 Timothy 2-3
Sometimes we don’t always listen to God.
No matter how many times He tells us.
And, that’s a dangerous place to be.
The Hebrews in today’s Old Testament reading would learn that truth the hard way. They apparently believed that as long as they had the Temple, they must be okay with God—no matter how they chose to live. They were breaking God’s commands while also relying on the Temple; in the words of one writer, “they have profaned God’s house by making it a place of retreat between acts of crime.”* God would remind them, though, that He is not limited to a place or location; just as He had allowed the destruction of Shiloh for their sin, and he would do the same to Jerusalem if the people did not repent.
What most catches my attention today, however, is God’s clear word that He had been warning the people for some time: “when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer” (Jer 7:13). The wording uses the image of God’s rising up early every morning and speaking to His people, but they ignored His pleas. They just did not listen, no matter how many times He tried to grab their attention.
Our situations might be quite different from the Hebrews in Jeremiah 7, but the warning remains the same: we must listen to God and obey Him. Anything less is too risky.
PRAYER: “Father, give me listening ears and an obedient heart. Forgive me for the times You must repeat things to me.”
DAILY ACTION STEP: What has God told you to do, but you haven’t done it yet? Do it today. Listen to Him.
TOMORROW’S READING: Jeremiah 10-13, 1 Timothy 4
* Harrison, R. K. (1973). Jeremiah and Lamentations: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 21, p. 90). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.