Jeremiah 12:10-13 – Not Taken to Heart
10
“Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard,
They have trodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11
They have made it desolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because no one takes it to heart.
12
The plunderers have come
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the Lord shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
13
They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
In a work titled Thoughts in Solitude, we don't expect to be rattled from our revelry. Nevertheless, Thomas Merton does so, confronting, “There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with realities outside and above us.”
I note the same preoccupation in the spiritual leadership the all-in prophet with their Jeremiah 12:10 divided condition. Many are the inspired, prophetic fusillades which indict so-called spiritual leaders for using the flock to enrich themselves, so one shortcut to proving sham innocence would be a leader showing an absence of such a direct profit. "Where are the comforts I've gained?" he or she might protest. Where are the prongs manipulated into praising me instead of following after God?"
Irresponsible spiritual influence, however, need not take such blatant forms. Those with God-ordained opportunities for spiritual correction and direction don't need to have their lips stained with the grapes or their gait unsteady by the vintage in order to have credible God's vineyard underfoot in the final reckoning of Jeremiah 12:10. Laziness, neglect, inattention is as much sin as drunkenness or gluttony. The land is just as desolate as a result, just as open to outright, purposeful plundering because spiritual leaders called by grace had not taken their protective positions seriously.
Where do we, as their inattentive heirs, take the absence of our ill-gotten profit as our vindication? Caught up in our dramas and having lost perspective, Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley might describe us with, “Strange that only a little problem of your own will take your mind far from a tragedy belonging to others.” Having made a vocation of naval-gazing, we have trampled the very chutes of spiritual growth over which God gave us responsibility and have thought ourselves the more spiritual for not seeking after influence.
We would do otherwise. We would awaken from a self-centered stupor as powerful as wine. By God's grace, while it is still called today, we would be careful of our steps in His vineyard over which He has made us steward. We would cultivate by grace the growth He makes possible, would strengthen the walls against outright invaders, that He might drink the vintage of His people's sweet growth upon His return. Otherwise, we know we will consume ourselves in lesser concerns and no no true satisfaction therein.
James MacDonald says it rightly and forthrightly in Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God's Changeless Truth. “At the end of life, each of us must answer the question, Whose story captured my soul?” If our soul isn't taken up in the great, passion-deepening work He has given us to do as a means of knowing Him and loving Him more, we will traipse after some lesser narrative at the expense of those He has given us to care for.
“Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard,
They have trodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11
They have made it desolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because no one takes it to heart.
12
The plunderers have come
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the Lord shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
13
They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
In a work titled Thoughts in Solitude, we don't expect to be rattled from our revelry. Nevertheless, Thomas Merton does so, confronting, “There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with realities outside and above us.”
I note the same preoccupation in the spiritual leadership the all-in prophet with their Jeremiah 12:10 divided condition. Many are the inspired, prophetic fusillades which indict so-called spiritual leaders for using the flock to enrich themselves, so one shortcut to proving sham innocence would be a leader showing an absence of such a direct profit. "Where are the comforts I've gained?" he or she might protest. Where are the prongs manipulated into praising me instead of following after God?"
Irresponsible spiritual influence, however, need not take such blatant forms. Those with God-ordained opportunities for spiritual correction and direction don't need to have their lips stained with the grapes or their gait unsteady by the vintage in order to have credible God's vineyard underfoot in the final reckoning of Jeremiah 12:10. Laziness, neglect, inattention is as much sin as drunkenness or gluttony. The land is just as desolate as a result, just as open to outright, purposeful plundering because spiritual leaders called by grace had not taken their protective positions seriously.
Where do we, as their inattentive heirs, take the absence of our ill-gotten profit as our vindication? Caught up in our dramas and having lost perspective, Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was My Valley might describe us with, “Strange that only a little problem of your own will take your mind far from a tragedy belonging to others.” Having made a vocation of naval-gazing, we have trampled the very chutes of spiritual growth over which God gave us responsibility and have thought ourselves the more spiritual for not seeking after influence.
We would do otherwise. We would awaken from a self-centered stupor as powerful as wine. By God's grace, while it is still called today, we would be careful of our steps in His vineyard over which He has made us steward. We would cultivate by grace the growth He makes possible, would strengthen the walls against outright invaders, that He might drink the vintage of His people's sweet growth upon His return. Otherwise, we know we will consume ourselves in lesser concerns and no no true satisfaction therein.
James MacDonald says it rightly and forthrightly in Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God's Changeless Truth. “At the end of life, each of us must answer the question, Whose story captured my soul?” If our soul isn't taken up in the great, passion-deepening work He has given us to do as a means of knowing Him and loving Him more, we will traipse after some lesser narrative at the expense of those He has given us to care for.
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