THE HIGH COST OF NOT LISTENING TO GOD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile—yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to My words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:15-19

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Over the last two devotions, we have tackled the problem of false prophets through the study of God’s word in the Book of Jeremiah, learning two key things.

First, we need to validate everything we are exposed to when it comes to someone who presents themselves as speaking on behalf of the Lord. That validation comes through measuring the messenger’s statements against the word of God itself as well as the Lord through the Holy Spirit. When we fact check what we’re told with the Lord, then and only then can we be sure that we will not be led astray.

The second thing we learned is that there is a high cost a messenger will have to pay from the Lord if they choose to lie in an attempt to mislead the people of God with the penalty being as severe as death. God will not tolerate illegitimate messengers and thus put a powerful deterrent in place to try and deter false prophecy before it even started.

So the Lord does not favor anyone who speaks out falsely in His name but as we see in today’s scripture passage, He also does not accept those who choose to not listen to Him, again promising harsh consequences for anyone who would choose to do it. Look at today’s scripture passage:

You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile—yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to My words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 29:15-19

It’s obvious the Lord is not happy. You can tell it in His tone and in the judgment He is promising.

At the heart of His displeasure is the fact that the king who was sitting on David’s throne, all the people who had remained in the city (the ones who had not gone away into exile), and even the exiles themselves had not listened to the words of the Lord, words that He had spoken over and over and over again to them through His servants and prophets. God was trying to give guidance and direction to His people, calling out their sins and commanding them to turn from their ways or else. But the people chose to ignore and disregard Him, a blatant display of disrespect and dishonor that He would not stand for.

And so the Lord showed His people that there is a high cost attached to refusing to listen and turning your back on Him. The imposed consequences detailed by the Lord were harsh and included the following:

1.  The Lord sending a sword upon them which signaled that a visit by attacking forces was in the Israelites future.

2. The Lord sending famine which would lead to a shortage of food for the people to eat.

3. The Lord sending a plague which could take any number of forms (such as the ten different plagues that God sent on the Egyptians in the Book of Exodus, Chapters 7-11), any of which would create a hardship for the Israelites.

4. The Lord making His people abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them.

If the people of God wanted to dishonor God then they would find out how it felt to be dishonored and find out the hard way.

So what about us today? Are we repeating the mistakes of the past and choosing to not listen to the Lord? Have we closed our ears to the receiving of His word? Have we closed our hearts and minds to the influence of His Holy Spirit?

We had better consider all these questions carefully and do an honest assessment as to our standing in God’s sight.
For the scriptures today are clear: there exists a high cost for not listening to God. Let’s do ourselves a favor and not force our Lord’s hand in doling out consequences for something we could (and should) easily do.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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