October 6

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7; Colosians 2:8-23; Psalm 78:1-31; Proverbs 24:26

Whew! How are you holding up with Jeremiah? There’s some pretty strong language in there, huh? The last few days I’ve really been struck by the despair and depth of depravity Jeremiah is seeing in his people. Here’s a quick recap:

2:5          “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?”

2:7          “I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.”

2:34        “Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor…”

3:1b       “You have played the whore with many lovers…”

4:19        “My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain.”         

4:22        “For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding.”

5:7b-8   “When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to houses of whores. They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.”

There is no mincing words or sugar coating what’s happening in Israel, and Jeremiah, in his boldness, calls Israel out on their sin. Look at this verse in today’s reading: “Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush” (Jer. 8:12). I was really struck by the phrase “they did not know how to blush” because I’ve had a growing sense of that being true today in America. So much is allowed, even encouraged, these days and it seems like our nation has lost the ability to blush. And, unfortunately, I’m not just talking about the non-believers. Those of us who profess Christ but frequently live like He isn’t the King and Lord are often just as guilty and just as unwilling to “blush.”

But then we turn over to our New Testament reading and we are once again reminded of God’s forgiveness and mercy. “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses…” (Col. 2:13). Not just some, but ALL our trespasses. Thank you, Jesus!

This is why we read the Bible year after year, so that we see God’s whole story and so that we know how fully loved and forgiven we are.

So help us, Jesus, to mourn and grieve over our sin and to truly turn from it in repentance and the forgiveness you so freely offer. Amen!

- Esther McCurry

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