At first it seems odd to even ask why this saying has been
used through the years. Yet, it is totally applicable for our reading this
weekend. This guy, Jeremiah, was supposed to go to these people and tell them
they were not listening to God. They responded by continuing to behave in the
same way that they had been.
They kept on doing what they had been doing, which meant
that they kept on messing up. After
Jeremiah continued to pursue them, and God still showed His love by coming back
to them, the people got mad because Jeremiah brought the message that warned
them to clean up their act or they would be destroyed.
Harsh words right? God continued to call his people to
action in many ways, but specifically in the Old Testament it was with a sense
of power and urgency.
In a way we often don’t feel the intensity of this message, but
we do recognize when something we do is clearly wrong. Yet we
continue to do it over and over again. This usually creates a reaction in the people
around us to eventually call us out. It is one of the tough moments we like to
forget, but it is absolutely necessary for our spiritual well being. But so
often we want to disregard the messenger. We want to attack the person God sent
to speak to us about our specific sin.
When I was on vicarage, I organized my first youth mission
trip. The plan was to go to Kansas City.
I felt like all the details were in place. But I had no female chaperone,
so I called a friend I knew and flew her in to help us out. It seemed like I
had worked out all the arrangements, until some of the kids’ moms questioned a
few of the details I had set-up. I was so defensive, because my original plan
seemed to indicate that it would prove to be a great trip. But the moms were
worried, and probably with good reason. And honestly, looking back, I admit
that I was not specific enough on the details. But I wanted to defend myself to
my supervising pastor, and ultimately I wanted to “shoot the messenger. “
But the moms’ message was correct, and what better way to
learn than on an internship rather then on my first job. God trains all of us
in different ways, but are we ready to hear His instructions or do we want to
“shoot the messenger”?
1 comment:
You're right. It's easy to get mad at the person and attack them, either physically or with our words, than listen to what they say. Something I've heard before and tried to listen to is "Listen to the message, not the messenger" because we sometimes get so caught up in the person delivering the message. We know God uses all kinds of people to do all kinds of things, yet when a friend calls us out on "not taking care of our bod" we always say, Look who's talking! You never exercise!" or other such things. This is also a good thing for me to hear as I press forward into my first year at seminary.
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