Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 4-6.

Jeremiah continues his prophecy against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, a prophecy which we should take to heart.  God is looking for people who will turn from all other gods and will say in a truthful, just, and righteous way, “As surely as the Lord lives.”  We need to examine our lives and look for the places which have become hardened in doing that which is not God’s will.  We must allow God’s Spirit to enter into us and plow up those areas, breaking up the hard ground.  This comes in reaction to the verse which says,
“Break up your unplowed ground
    and do not sow among thorns.”
I have always thought of the second part as being something that happened during plowing up the unplowed ground, which is not wrong.  However, it just occurred to me that we should also keep it in mind relative to Jesus’ instructions about sowing the Word of God.  We should recognize that we are not called to do God’s will in places where we cannot resist the temptation which is present there.  For example, if you are an alcoholic, you are probably not called to minister in a bar.  

That was in a way a side track from my main point today.  In chapter five, Jeremiah returns to the theme about God looking for and calling people to honestly serve Him.  God tells Jeremiah,
“If you can find but one person
    who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
    I will forgive this city.
 Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
    still they are swearing falsely.”
Which tells us the importance of being honest and righteous and just, even when everyone else sins.  Just as when God spoke to Abraham about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, it does not take many righteous people in a society to transform that society.  Jeremiah warns us that those around us are foolish and senseless, they have eyes but do not see what God has revealed, they have ears but do not hear the Word which God has spoken,  Going back to the verse about breaking up our unplowed ground, we must seek those areas in our life where we are resistant to doing God’s will.  We must seek justice by promoting the case of the fatherless and defending the just cause of the poor.  Actually, that contains something that too many miss.  Jeremiah does not tell us to “defend the cause of the poor.”  Rather he tells us to “defend the JUST cause of the poor.”  When you hear someone leave out that piece of the equation it is because they are practicing deceit in order to benefit themselves.  All too many leaders, even religious leaders, speak lies in the name of God, and rule as if their authority derives from themselves.  And too many of us follow leaders who we know are doing it that way because they tell us what we want to hear.  God tells us through Jeremiah to seek out the ancient paths, then ask which is the good way, and walk in it.  Not all of the ancient paths are the good way, but the good way is an ancient path.  All too often, we seek a new way, a new path, and end up following an ancient path which is not the good way.  We think we have found a new way which is better than the old ways, because we have not truly looked at those ancient paths.  So, begin by seeking the paths which mankind has trod over and over again.  Then ask, which of these has been shown to be the good way.  Follow that way, and our souls will find peace.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.