August 31, 2019
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in 2 Chronicles and Jeremiah? Here’s today’s reading:
Jeremiah 9 (ESV)
1 Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night.....Continue Reading
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Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV)
23 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, 24 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.”
Yes, we serve God who is love, but as these verses remind us he is also practicing justice and righteousness. We cannot have one at the exclusion of the others. God’s love does not supersede his justice and righteousness. Rather, in his justice and righteousness, he still expresses love. Have we not seen God continuously calling the people back to repentance – and yet they will not listen; they proceed from evil to evil (Jer. 9:3).
Even though the people are not saddened by their sin, Jeremiah is. How similar it can be for us as we see our nation on the decline and see people bearing the consequences of sin and evil. We too should be saddened by all they have forsaken. But Jeremiah also exposes in this chapter another level of their sin. It’s not just sin against God that they are committing but also sin against each other, deceiving and planning to hurt each other. It is another part of the fallout that comes from rejecting God, rejecting a higher authority that speaks absolute truth into our lives.
And at the end of the chapter we see the desired result of the judgement that God will bring. That they would wail. That they would be broken by the effect of their sin so maybe they would be broken about the sin itself. Because all independence from God is about boasting. It is about a pride that says I have a better way. And yet our only boast should be that we know and understand God and who He is. He and His will is the only fitting pursuit, the only fitting thing to regard and value. It is the way to make crooked paths straight, that we would take pride in who He is and what He promotes and is all about…..
I found the last paragraph interesting about all of Israel being uncircumcised in heart. God set up the covenant of circumcision as a symbol of relationship, not just a physical act of obedience.
Romans 2:25 For circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision? 27 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who fulfills the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter.[a] That man’s praise[b] is not from men but from God.
AMEN
23Thus 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, 24but 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.”