Bible Reading for August 8 – Jeremiah 7-9

If there’s anything we Mississippians were good at, at least until the COVID crisis hit, it was going to church. We have over 60 congregations just in Claiborne County alone, and year in and year out, our state is near the top in worship attendance. More of us believe in God and more of us pray every day than the citizens of any other state, at least according to a recent Pew research poll.

In the same way, it was easy for the people of Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day to be a bit smug. After all, God Himself had chosen their city as the site of His Temple, the only place He wanted to be worshipped. And God Himself had demonstrated His pleasure with the Temple that Solomon had built for Him, filling it with His own glory on the day it was dedicated (I Kings 8:10-11). Moreover, God had promised Solomon, “I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually” (I Kings 9:3).

That’s why Jeremiah’s words in chapter 7 must have come as such a shock to them. For he accused them of divided loyalties, of worshipping God while at the same time making offerings to other gods. He accused them of worshipping God while at the same time breaking God’s Law of love for one another by stealing, killing and committing adultery (Jeremiah 7:9). Worst of all, he accused them of putting their faith in the fact that the Temple was in their midst, taking advantage of God’s promises of protection so that they could defy Him, living in all sorts of sinful ways (Jeremiah 7:10).

So how about us? Do we need to examine our own hearts? Are we taking pride in our regular worship attendance, or in our daily Bible reading, or in the regularity of our prayers? Have we placed our faith in our religiosity rather than in the shed blood of Christ?

You know, Jesus quoted this passage when He drove the moneychangers out of the Temple during His earthly ministry (Matthew 21:13). Do our own hearts need to be cleansed in the same way? It’s something to think about….

Jeremiah 7:1-11

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 “Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!'”
3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
4 “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor,
6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin,
7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8 “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail.
9 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
10 then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’– that you may do all these abominations?
11 “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.