For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Do not let your prophets and your diviners which are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD. Jeremiah 29: 8, 9, NKJV (Emphasis provided).
Merciful God, please help us to listen to Your voice, and your voice, only. May we willing to accept Your message, even if it is not what we wanted to hear. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Our verse for today describes a phenomenon that we see taking place in our day and age. Many of the sermons that are described as “good,” or “excellent,” are those that speak, not only to our issues, but that offer us the solutions that we want to hear. It is similar to going to a doctor. He or she may tell us that we are borderline diabetics. Well, that is not too bad; at least we know why we have been feeling the way we have. The problem begins when he or she starts telling us what we need to do, or stop doing, in order to improve our health!
Let us look for a few minutes at how this applied to the people of Jesus’ day. Scripture tells us that Jesus went into the temple on the Sabbath day, took up the scroll and read the message written about Him, from the Book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon [M]e, because the LORD has appointed [M]e to preach good news to the poor. He has sent [M]e to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61: 1, 2, NIV). You would believe that this message would have been a source of complete comfort for all who heard it, in the day that it was delivered, as well as in our day. And it was, that is, at the beginning! “Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips…’ ” [So far, so good,] (Luke 4: 20-22, NIV).
Until, Jesus started applying it to their situation: “I tell you the truth,” He continued, “No prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time when the sky was shut for three and a half years… Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon and there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian.” Then all hell broke loose! They went from praising to almost lynching! “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to thrown him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (24-27, emphasis provided)!
Because He told them the truth, they became deaf to all the other blessings! In the time of Jesus, as well as in our day, we actually encourage our preachers to preach certain messages, by the response we give, or, do not give to them. Many are willing to compromise the LORD’s message, in order to give us a message that is pleasing to our ears! May God help us to be big enough to give up the dreams we cause our prophets to dream, and accept in their place, the message that the LORD has for us!
My regrets for the late publishing of our devotional for today.
Mabel