“Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,
inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts
and on the horns of their altars.
2 Even their children remember
their altars and Asherah poles
beside the spreading trees
and on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the land
and your wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,
together with your high places,
because of sin throughout your country.
4 Through your own fault you will lose
the inheritance I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies
in a land you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
and it will burn forever.”
5 This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve.”
11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
is the man who gains riches by unjust means.
When his life is half gone, they will desert him,
and in the end he will prove to be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
because they have forsaken the LORD,
the spring of living water.
14 Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;
save me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.
My Understanding: God described to Jeremiah how he viewed the sins of his people, Israel. An iron tool and a flint point were used to engrave or to chisel out words or pictures into a stone tablet. My husband owns an instrument such as this. It is a wood burning instrument that has various sizes of tips. Yet, the one described here was for engraving words into stone tablets, which represented the depth, seriousness and permanency of Israel’s sins being engraved into their hardened hearts. Their sins described here were directly related to their idolatry. And, their idolatry was associated specifically with their wealth and their treasures (valued possessions).
We are not all that different today, especially here in the USA. Christians in the USA are among those who have wide-screen TVs in the place of honor in their living rooms with nearly all seats situated to face and to give honor to the idol that has dominance in that room in many living rooms in America. At the feet of these idols are the hundreds of video games, DVDs, Wii games, Xboxes, etc. used to keep this idol happy and actively employed to keep us entertained continuously, if we should so choose. Many American households plan their days around their TV programs and feel at a loss as to what to do with their time if they have a power outage for a period of time and are not able to connect to their pacifier. The TV, movies, games, computers, the internet, IPads, cell phones, etc. all serve to keep Americans continuously connected electronically to their friends, family members, entertainment, news, games, et al, and can be a continuous source of distraction and mind numbing to where God Almighty is barely an afterthought throughout our daily routines.
These are not the only idols that can creep into our lives, though. Our jobs, homes, cars, vehicles, possessions, properties, toys, personal libraries, knowledge, education, family members, hobbies, sports, people, religion, church edifices, doctrines, rites and rituals, leisure time, fun activities, and/or our “good deeds,” etc. can all become our idols, as well, and the list goes on and on. Basically, when something or someone takes the place of God in our lives and in our hearts to where our time, devotion, obedience, worship, allegiance, emotion, heart, passion, minds, speech, and/or energies, etc. are given over to that something or someone above and beyond what we give to God, then that something or someone may be our idol. Sometimes, though, we can give plenty of time and energy to something or someone, or even to God, but our hearts are not given over. In other words, just because we give God our time or energies to church work or community service and good deeds, it does not mean God is in first place in our lives or that he has our hearts.
Not only can things and activities become our idols, but humans can become our idols to where we trust them more than we trust God, and we worship, adore and praise them more than we worship, adore and praise God. When the acceptance of man is greater in our hearts than God’s acceptance of us, man has become our idol and we are guilty of placing our trust more in man and of turning away from God. If God asks us to do something that will get us most assuredly rejected by man, whom will we choose? Is our goal mainly to please man (and woman) and to have them like and accept us, or is our goal to please God in all that we do, think, say and are, even if it means being rejected by man? So many people shy away from witnessing and sharing the truth of the gospel, and from speaking the truth in love to a fallen brother or sister, using the excuse that they don’t want to offend anyone and they don’t want to hurt people’s feelings. Yet, what they are really concerned about, in most cases, is their own lives and not wanting people to reject them and to think ill of them. They want to be liked. They want people to say nice things about them. And, so they just say things to people that will get them liked and accepted.
Yet, think about this with me for a moment. If someone is drowning, will you offer him kind words to console him, or will you jump into the water and rescue him, risking that your own life could be lost in the process? Will you at least call for help? If someone is asleep in a house that is on fire, will you avoid waking him up so that he is not angry with you? Will you stand quietly outside the house and just watch him burn up inside? Or will you just say nice things to him but not be willing to lift a finger to try to rescue him? If someone is stepping out into the street and you see a truck barreling down the road toward him, will you just stand and watch? No! I hope not!! I would hope that you would call out to him. If someone is dying of a horrible disease and you have the antidote or the cure, will you keep it to yourself? Or, will you let the person know that he can be saved and he can be healed? Many of us take these cowardly approaches to our relationships with people to where we want their acceptance of us and for us to be thought well of so much that we refuse to speak the truth in love to them, and we avoid sharing the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and thus we have made them our idols and our trust is more in man than in God.
In contrast to all of this idolatry and worship of man and things is the one who places his or her trust in God, giving to God his or her heart unreservedly, turning from sin, walking in faith and obedience, and is one who is willing to suffer rejection, persecution and even death for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the sake of the salvation of human lives. This person is blessed by God. He is a fruitful believer who produces fruit in keeping with repentance, faith and obedience to God/Jesus Christ, because his faith and life and practice are rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his love and mercy, and in his Word, and he has made the decision to put his trust in God above trust in man. He will not fear man or what man can do to him, because he wants to please his Master and Lord above all else, and because he understands that the greatest love is for one to lay down his life for another and to be willing to die so that another can be saved, which includes dying to our own pride, self-will and desire to be liked by man above our desire to please God.
“The heart is deceitful above all things…” The Lord searches our hearts and examines our minds. We are deceived when we think that we can fill our lives, minds and hearts with all these things and activities that have nothing to do with our relationship with Jesus Christ and that God is pleased with us if we give him a few moments of our time each day or once a week for an hour. We are deceived if we think that being a “nice” person who always says “nice” things to people and never offends anyone or hurts people’s feelings makes us good Christians that others should emulate. We are not called to be “nice.” We are called to obey God, to be his messengers, to be kind, compassionate, tenderhearted, loving, merciful, but to speak the truth in love and to be willing to die so that others can go free. This is love!
Where is your heart today in relation to your God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Is he truly in first place in your heart to where you have no idols or gods before him? Do you trust him and follow him more than you trust man and follow man? Do you inquire of him as to what he wants of you - your time, money, energy, thoughts, words, behaviors, habits, hobbies, etc.? And, then do you listen to him and obey what he tells you, even if it means getting rid of your “idols”? Are you more interested in pleasing God with your life than you are in pleasing yourself or in being liked by others? God is still calling out to his people to get their lives right with him, to forsake all their idols, to turn from their sins, to walk humbly before God in faith and obedience, and to be fruit-bearing disciples for Jesus Christ in leading others to follow the Lord Jesus in all faith and obedience, being willing even to suffer rejection, persecution and death for the sake of His Name, for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of salvation of human lives. Don’t let your hearts deceive you.
A Still Small Voice / An Original Work / May 23, 2011
In a still small voice He calls you.
Won’t you hear and let him in?
He’s still speaking, oh, how gently.
He died to save you from sin.
Softly He speaks to our hearts.
His mercy and love imparts.
Won’t you come to Him today?
Let Him wash your sins away.
In a still small voice He whispers,
Kindly, calling you to Him.
He loves you so much, He’s willing
You not die, but live with Him.
He keeps prodding, gently so,
For His grace, you come to know.
He died so that you’d go free;
Live with Him eternally.
In a still small voice He hastens
You to turn your lives to Him,
Humbly walking in obedience,
Making Him your Lord and King!
Turn from your sin, turn to God,
Put your trust in Christ, His Son.
Invite Him into your hearts.
He’ll give you a brand new start.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
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