- And the Lord says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, 14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. Jeremiah 9:13-14 – The prophet is heavily grieved by what he is seeing with his people, so grieved that the start of the chapter is him declaring he doesn’t even have enough time or tears to mourn over them like he’d want to. Why was he so grieved, because he knew what was ahead for his people because of their sin. As we see in our verses above, they turned from following the law and chose something different to follow…their own heart. Whatever felt right to their heart and gave their heart the most fulfillment is what they went after. Where that led them is where we see scripture repeatedly revealing to us where a following of the heart will land us, straight into sin. Their heart led them to the worship of the false gods of the neighboring nations, and this was the exact example their fathers left them. Their fathers followed their heart to sin, now the children followed their heart towards sin. Let this be a lesson to us today that the choice we make on what/who we follow will instruct others on what/who they should follow. If we are committed to following every inclination of our heart, while that will certainly lead us far from God, it will also teach others to follow every inclination of their heart. Yet if we choose to set the Lord as what we follow, then others will learn from that example too. Let’s ask ourselves what/who have we been following with our lives, then ask who has been impacted already by that choice? While we can’t undo past choices to follow something other than God, we can make that choice to follow Him wholeheartedly today and let that be the example of the rest of our lives. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3238
- Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 – If you think this mission of ours from God to love Him and love people is simply a New Testament thing this passage shows that way of thinking is wrong. God delights in us seeking to know Him and practicing love and justice with others. This is being spoken about way back in Jeremiah’s time. Know God’s heart hasn’t changed. We are to know Him and love people. That’s been our mission from the beginning and it will be till the end. How are you doing then with that mission? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 928
- ….for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord (3b)…..Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord. (6) Jeremiah 9:3b and 6 – This language of “knowing the Lord” comes up multiple times in this chapter. We see it start with the not knowing the Lord and moving from one evil to the next. Yet later, in verse 6, the directions changes when scriptures say they refuse to know me. This knowledge being spoken of isn’t just an awareness that the Lord existed, they knew that. They were refusing an intimacy with God. God wanted them to draw close and know Him as their God, but they refused and walked to other evils instead. Today the invitation is open for us to know God just like He wanted the people in our passage to know Him. And we have an even better situation than they because we have the Holy Spirit within our story opening an even deeper level of closeness with the Lord. The heart this of this devotion is as A.W. Tozer once said, “Every man is as close to God as he wants to be.” The Lord has opened every door for you to find closeness with Him, it’s now up to us if we walk towards Him or choose something else again. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2141
Daily DEVO 