Jeremiah 27:1-12, It's Not the Mail Carrier's Fault

Observation: Jeremiah is being asked by God to prophesy some bad news to the kingdom of Judah. If they don't turn from their ways and follow God, their kingdom will face destruction at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. It's interesting that before Jeremiah speaks God says "It may be that they will listen." In order for the Judahites to have free will, even God can not know exactly how they'll respond. It's not a lost cause. But it's quite clear once Jeremiah opens his mouth which way it's going: his countrymen are not happy to hear from him.

Application: The best clichés are often true. "Don't shoot the messenger." It isn't your mail carrier's fault that you have bills coming due. And it isn't a prophet's fault when there's bad news from God about how we've fallen short of God's expectations. But it's still not easy to hear, and we still tend to pin our frustration and guilt on the one delivering the message, instead of turning inward and examining if this news rings true, and we just don't want to hear it.

Yesterday my friend Bob said something I thought was very scriptural: "You can either be a follower of Jesus, or indifferent to the needs of the poor, but not both." It hit me like a ton of bricks, because I knew it was true, and yet I also knew it demanded a reaction from me. It wasn't Bob's fault. In fact I'm very grateful to him for putting that into words. But it wasn't fun to hear. That's what God's Word is like most days.

Prayer: God, help us avoid our knee-jerk reaction. Help us not "shoot the messenger." Help us treat prophets as your doctors: diagnosing, giving us power through knowledge and truth. Amen.