Jeremiah 6:14 Today

Lately I have been studying the Old Testament book Jeremiah during my quiet time with the Lord.  While reading through the sixth chapter the fourteenth verse really jumped out at me.  As I sat in my office I couldn't get this verse off of my mind. So I decided to share my thoughts.

They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. - Jeremiah 6:14 NASB

For the last couple of weeks I have written several different pieces examining Jeremiah 6:14.  In this final entry I would like to address what I believe all of this means for you and I in our present situation.  I have posed several questions throughout all of this, many of which may have pointedly targeted parts of your faith, but maybe none of it really landed to close to the mark for you.  I won't assume or presume to know your situation, your heart, or your depth of maturity (or lack thereof) in the Christian faith.  I do, however, hope that the final addition to my thoughts on this passage at least gives you a moment to pause and reflect on where you stand and how you approach your faith.

There is a palpable arrogance hanging heavy over much of the evangelical Christian movement.  This saddens me.  I realize that for some this might seem ironic coming from me.  I am often known as one who can be overtly blunt in my delivery.  However, I believe that in the realm of Christian thought and the arena of evangelistic communication there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence.  Confidence comes from asking hard questions of yourself and your faith, developing your thoughts on God, and developing a deep understanding and trust for the Almighty that stretches far beyond simple rationale, logic, or mental contemplation.  Confidence in Christ is a developed sacred trust forged from trial, testing, and triumph.  Arrogance on the other hand is the result of a lazy approach to faith that is a bastardized form of assumption and bad religion (yes, I believe there is a distinction between good and bad religion).  It is born out of insecurity, the twisted need to control, and the desperate clinging desire to reassure the fragility of one's faith through grandiose gestures and sweeping blanket statements.

I believe arrogance spreads it's jagged maw and spurts its wretched message in two forms these days.  The first comes through those that constantly pander their message in a way that they know will be pleasing to those listening, and I'm not talking about style of delivery.  They shape the content to suit the audience's expectations.  In simple metaphorical terms, they tickle the audience's ears with pleasing platitudes.  The second disastrous voice of arrogance is that chord made from those harsh tones of superiority combined with the dissonant absence of humility.  Many Christians in their fervor to assert the innerancy of Scripture have completely missed the fact that we often err.  We are so far less than perfect.

I could go on and on about how annoying arrogance can be, but this whole thing is beginning to sound arrogant itself.  I am starting to sound as if I am attempting to posture my non-arrogance in an incredibly arrogant way, and I hope that is not what you might take from this.  I believe, very simply, that we can find truth, communicate that truth, and care deeply for those around us without seeming belligerently self-righteous, and confoundedly pompous.  The Old Testament prophet Micah put it pretty well.


He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  - Micah 6:8 NIV



Other blogs in this series.

• They   
• Brokenness 
• My People
• Superficial 
• Peace
  
• Today 

Jeremiah 6:14 "Peace"

Lately I have been studying the Old Testament book Jeremiah during my quiet time with the Lord.  While reading through the sixth chapter the fourteenth verse really jumped out at me.  As I sat in my office I couldn't get this verse off of my mind. So I decided to share my thoughts.

They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. - Jeremiah 6:14 NASB

Peace: it's a word used so often that almost any socially aware person in our society is numb to the sound of it by the time they are actually consciously aware of what it means.  Dictionary.com puts it this way: the normal, nonwarring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world.

In the context of this passage, the religious authority of Jeremiah's day was saying that Israel was at peace--but that was so far from the truth.  In fact, this was a point of tension throughout most of Jeremiah's ministry that continually set him at odds against both ruling authorities, and false religious authorities.  He would often deliver a prophetic message of impending invasion and disaster, many times at the behest of the king, which would be contrary to both what the king wanted to hear, and what the false prophets were saying.  He would be told he was wrong, ignored, often jailed, and sometimes have his life threatened for not delivering the message the people wanted to hear.

There is a significant truth for us to take away from this.  Often the true message of God, be it deliverance, redemption, or correction--is willfully ignored by the masses.  Even if someone broaches the subject with you, there is no guarantee they will accept the truth you share with them.  The point of this particular part of the passage is to illuminate for us the principle that people will often accept what they want to hear over what they need to hear.  Not everyone certainly, but in Jeremiah's day it was a majority.  That makes it all the more important for the believer, to not only seek God's truth in every situation with a deep reverence, but to also communicate it with loving compassion and unwavering commitment.

In an environment where people listen to what best satisfies their expectations, will, and wants--nothing less than speaking the "truth in love" (Eph 4:14-16) will do.

Other blogs in this series.

• They   
• Brokenness 
• My People
• Superficial 
• Peace
  
• Today 

Jeremiah 6:14 "Superficial"

Lately I have been studying the Old Testament book Jeremiah during my quiet time with the Lord.  While reading through the sixth chapter the fourteenth verse really jumped out at me.  As I sat in my office I couldn't get this verse off of my mind. So I decided to share my thoughts.

They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. - Jeremiah 6:14 NASB

Let's face it.  We all know superficial people.  To some degree each of us are guilty of it ourselves--and probably more often than we would ever be comfortable admitting.  I could spend the next few paragraphs talking about the shallow superficiality of people; but that's not really what this passage is about.

Plainly Jeremiah is writing of superficial healing being touted about by the religious order of the day.  What does that mean?  It means that the religious leadership of Israel were not addressing any deep problems of their time.

We see this all the time in our era as well.  The human heart hasn't changed much in the last 2,500 years and we still have pretty much the same disposition toward wickedness that the prophet's contemporaries did--we've only came up with flashier ways to package and present them.  To remove this idea from a religious context for one moment it is very much like a physician who seeks only to treat symptoms and not the underlying problem, be it sickness, injury, or disease.

Now, think about this within the framework of Christianity.  Do we do this?  Do we try really hard to treat people's problems without addressing their condition?  Absolutely.  The movement I belong to is, I think, sometimes especially guilty of this.  We become incredibly concerned with seeing people respond immediately within a religious service, but often fail to find out or follow up with how they might be responding in a month's time.

When men encounter the genuine message of the Gospel, and through it--God, it forces a change.  I present this as a challenge to myself and my fellow believers: does the message we present to those around us go beyond the finite temporal struggles of a daily existence and address a deeper condition.  Is the Gospel, Tylenol for a moral headache, or Virtuous Healing for a diseased soul?




Other blogs in this series.

• They   
• Brokenness 
• My People
• Superficial 
• Peace
  
• Today 

Jeremiah 6:14 "My People"

Lately I have been studying the Old Testament book Jeremiah during my quiet time with the Lord.  While reading through the sixth chapter the fourteenth verse really jumped out at me.  As I sat in my office I couldn't get this verse off of my mind. So I decided to share my thoughts.

They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. - Jeremiah 6:14 NASB

My people is an easy enough phrase to grasp the meaning of in the context of this passage.  My meaning mine--as in God's; and people meaning the Jews.  This prophetic writing is stating quite plainly that God is unhappy with the way that His chosen ones are being treated by the people (prophets and priests) responsible for directing them to Him.

Jeremiah has over fifty chapters.  Much of the content deals with the approaching judgement against the Israelites by the conquering Babylonian army.  And even though God is readying the judgement that many of Jeremiah's later chapters deal with, He still stamps the Jews with His ownership in this early passage.

Something I believe that this helps to point out is the idea that God's judgement is often redemptive in nature (for more on that read Jonah's story in the book by the same name.)  God often used judgement in the OT to steer His people toward correction.  Of course, when we think of judgement in our modern era we usually think of some kind of terrible supernatural cataclysm (or a verdict rendered in a court); and while I believe those happen I also believe there are small judgements of a less obvious nature.

To me, the important thing to take away from this passage is the idea that once you've been adopted into God's family (see Ephesians chapter one) you belong to His family.  That is something pretty awesome to consider.  It doesn't free us from responsibility, or even correction, but instead it affords us the wealth of sonship that rests in the family of God.

Last thought:  People is not a singular term.  It is plural.  It is collective.  No Christian is an only child and I find it deeply unsettling when I happen across those within the faith who feel as if they are all alone.

Challenge:  Plug in to the people.  Find a faith family.  Find a place to be a part of the collective of the Body of Christ.  Find a church.  Become deeply involved and let those around you become deeply involved with you.  You will be all the better for it.



Other blogs in this series.

• They   
• Brokenness 
• My People
• Superficial 
• Peace
  
• Today 

Jeremiah 6:14 "Brokenness"

Lately I have been studying the Old Testament book Jeremiah during my quiet time with the Lord.  While reading through the sixth chapter the fourteenth verse really jumped out at me.  As I sat in my office I couldn't get this verse off of my mind. So I decided to share my thoughts.

They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. - Jeremiah 6:14 NASB

Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet, and for good reason. Much of his writing has to do with the judgement and wrath of God and is delivered through a form of writing known as a lament.  His smaller canonized work even bears the name, "Lamentations." Jeremiah lived during an incredibly tumultuous time in Jewish history.  He was a prophet before and during the conquest and exile of the Jews to Babylon. It seems to me that Jeremiah was uniquely qualified among his contemporary prophets to use the word.  The NASB uses the word brokenness  but the transliteration for the Hebrew word is sheber.  It means a fracture, something ruined; an affliction, breach, bruise, destruction, hurt, or vexation.

So what is Jeremiah 6:14 referring to as brokenness? A number of things come to mind. Among them is the moral bankruptcy of the time. God established the Law for His people to live by and, as I discussed in my last post, many clergy of the day had manipulated it to suit their own ends.  Through study of the various Old Testament prophets it becomes readily apparent that much of God's judgement which led to the Babylonian exile is a direct result of the Jews' national moral depravity.  I also believe brokenness refers to their state of being both during the conquest, and after the exile.  Obviously I've never lived through such a time, and find it difficult to imagine; but the conquest and siege which preceded the exile led to a truly volatile time in Israel.  A time in which both morality and morale were at a terrifying low.

Jeremiah witnessed mothers boiling their own children to avoid starvation. What kind of brokenness do you see around you today? What kind of fractured morality seems to be becoming the norm?

My prayer today is that God would open our eyes and hearts to those around us.  Not only so that we would be aware of the state of things; but that so we would be able to reach out and lovingly help those who are headed toward, or are already lost in, brokenness.  Unlike the prophets and priests of Jeremiah's time, let us with compassion and selflessness shower and guide people in a way that truly directs them toward God, the only one who can actually "heal their brokenness."




Other blogs in this series.

• They   
• Brokenness 
• My People
• Superficial 
• Peace
  
• Today 

Jeremiah 6:14 "They"

Lately I have been studying the Old Testament book Jeremiah during my quiet time with the Lord.  Earlier this week while reading through the sixth chapter the fourteenth verse really jumped out at me.  Any time something like this happens while I'm reading I instantly make a note of it, and as I sat in my office today I couldn't get this verse off of my mind.  So I decided to do what I often do in times like these as I contemplate a passage of scripture--share it.  For my next few posts I'll be taking a deeper look at this verse.  What do I think it means?  Who do I think it is speaking to or about?  How does it challenge me?

They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. - Jeremiah 6:14 NASB

 Who is "They" that this verse is speaking of?  You only need to go back to verse thirteen to see that it is referencing the prophets and priests of Israel.

For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is greedy for gain,
And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely. - Jeremiah 6:13 NASB

Other versions swap gain for money, profit, wealth, and other similar terms--but the point is made.  The prophets and priests, the people charged with communicating and conducting the people of Israel toward God had been corrupted.  And during this passage God was warning them through Jeremiah of the impending disastrous consequences of their actions.

Do you know of anyone today purporting to fill the role of prophet or priest while at the same time seeking to fill their pockets, promote their image, or presume their superiority?  Take care.  Look first for the humble heart, wise nature, and gentle spirit.



Other blogs in this series.

• They   
• Brokenness 
• My People
• Superficial 
• Peace
  
• Today