Jeremiah 8:4-7 – Resisting Renewal
From Jeremiah 8…
4 “Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:
“Will they fall and not rise?
Will one turn away and not return?
5
Why has this people slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit,
They refuse to return.
6
I listened and heard,
But they do not speak aright.
No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
As the horse rushes into the battle.
7
“Even the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
Casting Crowns in "One Awkward Moment" narrates for all of us, admitting, "She's a castaway, stranded on the island of her yesterday. Like us, for their purloined protagonist, "Freedom was her ocean. She got swept away."
Our experience of sin's hold is often a sense of being stranded on an island of our yesterday. Habit and shame half form the next choice. But this is the work of the enemy of our soul. Screwtape, CS Lewis's fictional representation of such forces teaches, "The job of their Tempters was first, of course, to harden these choices of the Hellward roads into a habit by steady repetition. But then (and this was all important) to turn the habit into a principle—a principle the creature is prepared to defend."
But against this congealing sense of concern condemnation is a formidable force of God's active besieging of the human heart. The maker of our hearts marvels that we would resist His wooing in Jeremiah 8:4-7. We have, should we choose to gather it objectively, ample evidence that our way is not working. The degradation from our most intimate and powerful experiences with the Lord is as obvious, He says, as the difference between standing and falling, the difference between being home and being estranged.
Before we consider alternatives honestly, as eventually does the prodigal son in the pigsty, we have a tendency to which these verses point of purposely drowning out the conviction to turn around. We tend to seek company that reinforces the rightness of our choice. Even in our small talk which verse six says He overhears, we aren't experimental and confessional, asking others to help us search our hearts. Even in our coffee breaks from active idolatry, we are exalting idols and ignoring God.
Would we but, to Screwtape's dismay take a walk and change the scene from the cycle of our misery rather than reinforcing it in our media choices, the Lord says in Jeremiah 8:7 we might be hold His glory in the gentlest most accessible ways. Before Christ says in the New Testament to consider the birds as a testimony to the Father's practical goodness, Jeremiah points to this aspect of His character in nature. He has created the stork to depend on Him, and the stork has the good sense to obey.
The stork, the turtledove, and the swallow, none of them made in God's image, all of them comparatively limited in discernment, nevertheless know that life is made up seasons. They know they must adjust, must migrate to the place where their deepest needs will be met. Would we, in comparison, hold fast to yesterday's location or state of the heart, make plans to live forever on the island of our yesterday, simply because of pride?
4 “Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:
“Will they fall and not rise?
Will one turn away and not return?
5
Why has this people slidden back,
Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit,
They refuse to return.
6
I listened and heard,
But they do not speak aright.
No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
As the horse rushes into the battle.
7
“Even the stork in the heavens
Knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow
Observe the time of their coming.
But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
Casting Crowns in "One Awkward Moment" narrates for all of us, admitting, "She's a castaway, stranded on the island of her yesterday. Like us, for their purloined protagonist, "Freedom was her ocean. She got swept away."
Our experience of sin's hold is often a sense of being stranded on an island of our yesterday. Habit and shame half form the next choice. But this is the work of the enemy of our soul. Screwtape, CS Lewis's fictional representation of such forces teaches, "The job of their Tempters was first, of course, to harden these choices of the Hellward roads into a habit by steady repetition. But then (and this was all important) to turn the habit into a principle—a principle the creature is prepared to defend."
But against this congealing sense of concern condemnation is a formidable force of God's active besieging of the human heart. The maker of our hearts marvels that we would resist His wooing in Jeremiah 8:4-7. We have, should we choose to gather it objectively, ample evidence that our way is not working. The degradation from our most intimate and powerful experiences with the Lord is as obvious, He says, as the difference between standing and falling, the difference between being home and being estranged.
Before we consider alternatives honestly, as eventually does the prodigal son in the pigsty, we have a tendency to which these verses point of purposely drowning out the conviction to turn around. We tend to seek company that reinforces the rightness of our choice. Even in our small talk which verse six says He overhears, we aren't experimental and confessional, asking others to help us search our hearts. Even in our coffee breaks from active idolatry, we are exalting idols and ignoring God.
Would we but, to Screwtape's dismay take a walk and change the scene from the cycle of our misery rather than reinforcing it in our media choices, the Lord says in Jeremiah 8:7 we might be hold His glory in the gentlest most accessible ways. Before Christ says in the New Testament to consider the birds as a testimony to the Father's practical goodness, Jeremiah points to this aspect of His character in nature. He has created the stork to depend on Him, and the stork has the good sense to obey.
The stork, the turtledove, and the swallow, none of them made in God's image, all of them comparatively limited in discernment, nevertheless know that life is made up seasons. They know they must adjust, must migrate to the place where their deepest needs will be met. Would we, in comparison, hold fast to yesterday's location or state of the heart, make plans to live forever on the island of our yesterday, simply because of pride?
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