READING: Jeremiah 2:23-5:19
Some time ago, I wrote a blog post entitled, “11 Reasons Preaching Scares Me.” I particularly noted that I answer to God for what I preach and that some will actually listen to me (which means I need to get it right). It’s easy, I fear, to take preaching for granted, giving too little attention to preparation and offering hearers too little of God’s Word.
I trust that all who read this devotion—beginning with me as I write it—want to proclaim only God’s Word. That was not the case, though, with the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day. They denied that God’s rebellious people would face any coming judgment; they instead “contradicted the Lord and insisted, ‘It won’t happen. Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine’” (Jer 5:12). Whereas true prophets spoke the Word through God’s Spirit, the false prophets “become only wind, for the Lord’s word is not in them” (Isa 5:13).
The problem is that the people actually listened to the false prophets. Many will listen to us, too, so we mustpreach and teach only what God says—even if the message is unpopular.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: How often do you pray for your pastor? or, if you are a pastor, for others who proclaim the Word?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, let me speak only Your Word.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Jeremiah 5:20-6:30, 2 Kings 22:3-20, 2 Chronicles 34:8-28
