Today’s Reading, Jeremiah 26-29
Focal Scripture: Jeremiah 28:15 “The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, but you have led these people to trust in a lie.”
In our society today there are many voices that claim to speak for God. They say they know what God intends in certain situations. They try to predict the future. This can be in your personal life or in the world. They speak with authority and even use the scriptures to substantiate their claims. For people who are not familiar with scripture this can seem enticing. Even for people who know the scriptures they can get caught up in the feelings of these events. Then they eventually believe a lie.
Even in Jeremiah’s day he faced the same problems. A prophet was going around speaking words from the Lord. He even went round as far to break the wooden yoke that Jeremiah was carrying. He acted like he was from God. However, he was a fraud. He was speaking his own words and not the words of the Lord. He was a deceiver.
The application for believers is to make sure you check what is being said to you about scripture. Make sure that the person who claims to speak for God is actually speaking what the Lord says. This means you must know the scriptures. You must understand them beyond surface level. Everyone is a theologian. How deep you go is up to you.
This matters because in our day of media it is easy to make a lie seem true. It is easy to convince people of certain themes that are scary or hopeful. To be mindful believers we must survey everything in accordance with scripture. Many self proclaiming preachers/teachers have ill intent and want to take advantage of your faith. They will weaponize it to their advantage. Others are just naive about what the Bible teaches.
I challenge you to take hold of every word that comes out of the mouth of someone you hear speak on God’s behalf. Make sure it lines up with scripture. Because if you’re not careful it is easy to believe a lie. We are all susceptible to being deceived. Be on guard and protect yourself and those you care about because it happens more than you think.
Tomorrow I plan on reading Jeremiah 30-31
