“Setting the record straight”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:6 (Forward, p. 45) CEV p. 775
It seems as if even the prophets of God, reliable, trustworthy prophets, need to be set straight, corrected, from time to time. At the onset of today’s passage, Jeremiah is reduced to tears, deeply upset over the fate of his people. He hears the people moaning and gripping about the seeming inaction of God, and he himself yearns for some type of healing or restoration for them. ‘Is there no balm in Gilead’ he asks. At the same time, he is deeply distressed at the unfaithfulness of those same people, so much that he would hide away from them, removed himself from them, if this were possible. “I wish I could go into the desert and find a hiding place from all who are treacherous and unfaithful to God” (chapter 9, verse 2).
But then the Lord replies and sets the record straight for Jeremiah. Everyone, God says, is telling lies. Firstly, the people themselves. For all their supposed sincerity in wanting God’s intervention, they are still rejecting God’s rule in their lives:
“Lies come from the mouths of my people, like arrows from a bow. With each dishonest deed their power increases, and not one of them will admit that I am God” (verse 3).
And the same goes for Jeremiah’s erstwhile friends and relatives. They too are telling lies, both about him and about all the others around them:
“Jeremiah, all your friends and relatives tell lies about you, so don’t trust them. They wear themselves out, always looking for a new way to cheat their friends. Everyone takes advantage of everyone else, and no one will admit that I am God” (verses 4-6).
It is interesting to note the similarities between the two warnings or denunciations. In both cases, the lying amounts to more than simply words but extends to behaviour as well. And, in both situations, there is a denial of God, or at least, a denial of God’s sovereignty as far as they as individuals go. But, of course, that only makes sense. If God is not in charge, if God does not rule, then anything goes. We can do anything and everything that we want, and there are no repercussions, and there is not accountability. And isn’t that precisely as much of our world works today?
And so, God decides to intervene, to do what only He can do, and that is to change their hearts, their innermost beings, the root of their thinking and motivations:
“And so I will purify the hearts of my people just as gold in purified in a furnace. I have no other choice. They say they want peace, but this lie is deadly, like an arrow that strikes when you least expect it. Give me one good reason not to punish them as they deserve. I, the Lord, All-Powerful, have spoken” (verses 7-9).
Purifying their hearts? Well, that sounds okay, we might say, but let it be gentle and non-invasive, non-confronting. But that’s not what God says. He says that it will be painful, and not the least comfortable or comforting. It will be drastic, like a refiner’s fire, drastic in that it will purge away the dross, all the contamination, and leave only that which is pure, unsullied and wholesome. Indeed, it will feel very much as if the Lord is punishing us. Nevertheless, it will be for ‘our own good.’ It will remove the lying behaviour and speech that has hitherto been part of our very being, the lying that we indeed make to our own selves, and for once, allow us to become the people that we were meant to be, the people that God wants us to be. God wants to do this in each of us, in each of our hearts, and it goes all the better, if we submit to it, if we say ‘yes’ to it. That is, if we pray as David did, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Or as the old Vineyard song put it, “Change my heart, O God, make it ever true. Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.” May this be our prayer, now and always. Amen.
Forward notes: “O that I had in the desert a traveler’s lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them!” (chapter 9, verse 2).
“The Lord God was tempted to leave the people, despite their mutual promises. God dreamed of fleeing to a Motel 6!
“However, the pathos of God is not two-dimensional but a multiplex, with deep, deep feelings. Broken-hearted, God weeps over the people. Empathetic, God feels for the poor who are not cared for. Appalled at their lack of loyalty, God laments being their God.
“We know, from the bank of scripture, that when God becomes angry, God’s anger is bounded by love. And when God is ready to check into a
Motel 6, God’s frustration is bounded by loyalty. God is love. God is light. God is always, always with us.”
MOVING FORWARD: Do some research on the prophet Jeremiah. Explore the pathos of God reflected in his writings.
A concluding note: I’m not sure that our author has ‘got it right’, as verse 3, the very next verse, says, “The Lord replies.” In other words, it was not God, but Jeremiah that was expressing these sentiments. And, in light of the prophet’s reluctance to becoming a prophet in the first place and his deep sorrow over his people’s waywardness, his tears of grief, his horror at their behaviour and his desire to remove himself from all those who are treacherous and unfaithful to God, only makes sense.
However, these tears of sorrow, this earnest desire for their betterment and this disgust and horror at their sinfulness, also reflect the heart of God. God deserved something better of them—and of us, and so yearns that we might all be reformed and experience a meaningful and thorough change of heart.