Beside The Well
Jeremiah 20:12 “But, O Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart.”
I’ve been doing a powerful lot of reading lately and learning some astounding new stuff that I hope to include in the future, but God’s word continues to be the most enlightening source of joy. As I read Jeremiah 20:12, I began meditating about the truth that God knows and tries our hearts; right down to the thoughts and intents according to Hebrews 4:12.
Jeremiah 23:16 opened a further train of thought for me by saying, “Hearken not unto the words of the prophets(the false prophets) that prophesy unto you: they make you vain (empty, void of knowledge): they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.” It reminds me of what we see in the media today. Society is successfully following a vision of their own heart and sculpting a culture void of richness and contrary to God’s design.
Verse 17 goes on to say, “They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.”
What? Do we not read things like this all the time and hear it in music lyrics and through TV programs and movies? Be yourself. Do what makes you happy. Follow your heart. That old wives tales of the judgment of God is outdated. Nothing terrible will happen to you.
Verse 36 finds men saying, “The burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more (stop telling me what the Bible says): for every man’s word shall be his burden(every man did that which was right in his own eyes). And the result—perversion, twisting and slanting of the truth. “For ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.”
We needn’t think God doesn’t know or see. Verses 23, 24, “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”
I wonder how many of us have swallowed the preaching of the world? (Oprah, Joel Olsten, etc.) How many of us live as if God will never judge or that He is far away and uninvolved? Do we follow our heart’s desires with no thought of truth or consequence?
It behooves us to try the spirits and search our hearts. We are explicitly warned in Proverbs 28:26, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.”
Jeremiah 23:16 opened a further train of thought for me by saying, “Hearken not unto the words of the prophets(the false prophets) that prophesy unto you: they make you vain (empty, void of knowledge): they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.” It reminds me of what we see in the media today. Society is successfully following a vision of their own heart and sculpting a culture void of richness and contrary to God’s design.
Verse 17 goes on to say, “They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.”
What? Do we not read things like this all the time and hear it in music lyrics and through TV programs and movies? Be yourself. Do what makes you happy. Follow your heart. That old wives tales of the judgment of God is outdated. Nothing terrible will happen to you.
Verse 36 finds men saying, “The burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more (stop telling me what the Bible says): for every man’s word shall be his burden(every man did that which was right in his own eyes). And the result—perversion, twisting and slanting of the truth. “For ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.”
We needn’t think God doesn’t know or see. Verses 23, 24, “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”
I wonder how many of us have swallowed the preaching of the world? (Oprah, Joel Olsten, etc.) How many of us live as if God will never judge or that He is far away and uninvolved? Do we follow our heart’s desires with no thought of truth or consequence?
It behooves us to try the spirits and search our hearts. We are explicitly warned in Proverbs 28:26, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.”
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