Jeremiah 5-6

August 13

 Jeremiah 5-6

"To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it." (Jeremiah 6:10, NIV)

 Jerusalem, the city of God, had turned away from God. The people had turned to from God; they had worshiped idols of other nations. God was fed up with their unfaithfulness. He was fed up with their disobedience. They did not want to hear what God had to say. They ignored the prophets, they forgot about God’s deliverance, they disobeyed His law. God was desperate to find righteousness in the city. "“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city." (Jeremiah 5:1, NIV) Jerusalem had become like Sodom and Gomorrah, and they were about to face the consequences for their actions.

In the same way, people in our day do not want to hear the words God is speaking to us. The word of the Lord is offensive to them. Governments want to silence people from sharing the truth from the word of God. God gives us words of warning in the bible, but people refuse to heed God’s warning. But there will be a day of judgment. There will be a day when consequences for ignoring God will be realized.

We cannot make people listen, but as followers of Jesus we can search our communities sharing the Good News, sharing the offensive word of God with hopes that some will listen and turn from their sin and turn to God.