Consider the Source

Jeremiah 26 provides a warning. Thus says the Lord...speak...do not hold back a word. It may be they will listen, and everyone turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the evil which I intend to do to them because of their evil doings.

The people do not believe the word. Jeremiah tells them it is a word from God. Do with me as you see fit  he says, but with a warning that if they kill him they will bring innocent blood down upon their heads. The prince and people change their mind, this man is from God, he shall not die.

What is the source of our knowledge and wisdom? The church is not one. It does not speak with a single voice. The charges and counter charges fly between those who claim to speak the truth. Whom to trust? With Jeremiah it easy, he is in the Bible. We know who he is and so it is obvious to us. But what if we lived then? What if we were in an audience where he made his stunning and frightening declarations? We are constantly bombarded with this warning or that. People tell us their 'visions' of the future and give us warnings. How are we to discern to which we will listen? At times all the words are just noise. Perhaps we would have seen Jeremiah as one more noisy voice trying to disrupt our peace.

Having spent so many hours in Bible study and contemplating weighty things of God, I often feel like I am not closer to knowing. I have increased clarity in some areas, but in others I still stumble in the dark. God remains as ungraspable and mysterious as the day I gave him my life. I donthink it is important to return to the Source. In prayer and silence open ourselves to the Father. Invite the Spirit guide. Live in Christ and welcome Him live to in you. Not so we can never be in error, but so that even in error we are God's own. It is not a quest for right, it is a quest for God. It is not a quest for power or prestige, it is a quest for God. It is not a quest for me and mine doing well, it is a quest for me and mine to be in God's realm.

Jeremiah said that God's House would be destroyed. Such words sounded blasphemous to pious ears of his time. In our own time we, too, have assumptions and beliefs which are equally precious to us, and equally in error. I do not know what mine are and you may not know what yours are. It is enough to know that we are in error (here or there) and to desire to be in God. To seek God. Those who seek God first will eventually know the truth, and in the meantime we must be humble believers, open to God and where He takes us. Open to hear God's truth, and not simply expect our assumptions and beliefs to be supported.