In our last visit we looked at the big picture, background context in which Jeremiah did his prophetic work. To get a fuller picture you would need to read the whole book of Jeremiah and Lamentations. I would like to focus now on Jeremiah 6, the immediate context.
Listen to verse 16 in The Message: “Go stand at the crossroads and look around. Ask for directions to the old road, the tried and true road. Then take it. Discover the right route for your soul.” When Jeremiah looked around, even during the revival that Josiah the king was leading, he saw duplicity and deceit.
Listen to how relevant the prophet’s assessment is to the conditions found in our own day. “Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar, little people and big people alike. Prophets and priests and everyone in between twist words and doctor truth. My people are broken – shattered! – and they put on band-aids, saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’ Do you suppose they are embarrassed over this outrage? No, they have no shame. They don’t even know how to blush” (verses 13-!5).
Jeremiah instructed them to stop, look and listen for God to guide them to the tried and true road, the good way. When they found it, he challenged them to walk in it. They respond, “Nothing doing. We aren’t going that way.” In the NIV translation it reads, if you “walk in it...you will find rest for your souls.” The people preferred turmoil and uncertainty if only they could continue in what they wanted. They were oblivious to the impending danger until it was too late.
If we don’t listen to the prophet’s message we too could face devastating consequences.
