Repentance can’t be about me.

Though our iniquities testify against us,

act, O Lord, for your name's sake;

for our backslidings are many;

we have sinned against you.

Jeremiah 14:7

Repentance isn’t about me. Repentance is all about what I realize about God and the enormity of my sin against Him. In this confessional from the prophet Jeremiah, the way in which Judah needed to repent is put into prophetic words. And the spotlight shines brightly on God and His glory. Our sins testify against us, showing us how short we fall from the holiness of God. Our deliberate rejection of God is behind every sin. And the One we answer to, against whom we bear the guilt of our sins, is God.

But the prayer of confession here calls God to act... to grant hope and be our Savior (Jeremiah 14:8). And the reason He does this is not for our sake. It is for His name’s sake. God saves us... Jesus saves us... for His glory and not for our own. If we have been spared His eternal judgment and granted eternal life and the righteousness of Christ applied to us, it is only because He is most glorified in being merciful to sinners and gracious to repentant sinners like us because of Christ and for His own glory!

O Lord,

My iniquities are many and testify against me. They cascade down my life and at this stage I will limp with the scars of them in some way or another until I am in heaven with You. My sin falls short of Your glory and pulls me from You. Against You have I sinned... intentionally and often without even giving it a second thought. I am a glory thief. Yet, in Jesus You have acted to save me for Your name’s sake. I pull the attention off me! I confess my sin and fall on my knees before my only Savior! Act in grace, O my God and Savior for Your glory! Be glorious in Your grace to sinners!

Amen

“...and when I think that God His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing

He bled and died, to take away my sin...

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee...

How great Thou art... How great Thou art...”

stupid shepherds

For the shepherds are stupid

and do not inquire of the Lord;

therefore they have not prospered,

and all their flock is scattered.

Jeremiah 10:21

This indictment against the leaders of Judah shows a clear consequence when spiritual leadership goes awry. The priests, Levites, and royal officials in Jerusalem were all tolerant of idolatry and disrespectful of God’s covenant. They led the nation in idolatry and neglected seeking the Lord. They relied on their own wits to lead. God calls that strategy “stupid”.

The result of this selfish, immature, rebellious, stupid leadership was that Jerusalem faltered. The nation did not prosper under such leaders. They may have enjoyed high approval ratings. The idolatry might have seemed cool as they now “fit in” with the nations around them. And personal fortunes might have been made at the price of economic hardship on the poor and needy. But all of that came at the cost of the spiritual soul of the nation. And when that eroded, Judah was ripe for invasion as God’s consequence for disobedience. That is exactly what happened. The stupid shepherds were taken over. Their flock scattered and was decimated in the siege.

How much better it is to seek the Lord and to inquire of Him! Leadership demands that leaders themselves are followers of a higher standard than just their own thoughts. And the ultimate standard for leadership is non other than the Great Shepherd - Jesus! Looking to Him, asking of Him to provide wisdom, looking to His Word for truth and to the Holy Spirit for enablement can save shepherds from being stupid.

individual freedom and God’s loving correction

I have paid attention and listened,

but they have not spoken rightly;

no man relents of his evil,

saying, ‘What have I done?’

Everyone turns to his own course,

like a horse plunging headlong into battle.

Jeremiah 8:6

Before God’s judgment fell upon Judah, He really did look for repentance from His people. But what He saw from the place to the temple, among the king’s court and with the priests & Levites in the temple courts, was unrepentant selfish evil. When God confronted His people through the preaching of Jeremiah, no one responded back with any awareness of their sin or a willingness to repent. Instead, the opposite was the state of the nation.

When a society emphasizes individual freedom (which is generally a good thing in principle) but also simultaneously refuses to believe God or accept His wisdom, individuals will make choices so tainted by selfishness and sin that they will corrupt the entire society. The sum of the bad individual choices will add up to a lot of corruption. What God saw in Judah was this moral chaos of individual freedom run amuck without any divine direction. The people refused to live by God’s design (Jeremiah 8:8-9), making them by God’s estimation worse off than animals in the natural world that follow divine instincts and patterns.

And so I must guard my own heart. I love that God has given me freedom. But I also know I am very imperfect and will make sinful and harmful choices left solely to my own insights. When I do, I pray I will have the courage and faith to always repent with the realization: “What have I done?” I trust God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to direct my life in the best possible course, away from a destiny of headlong destruction, and into the joy of my Lord!

the forge

I have made you a tester of metals among my people,

that you may know and test their ways.

Jeremiah 6:27

As Jeremiah the prophet preached the Word of the LORD among the Jews in Judea, God was preparing His people for the purifying work of His judgment. Part of the prophetic work that Jeremiah did in faithfully proclaiming God’s Word was meant to draw out the “dross” of wickedness from the “pure silver” God hoped His people to be.

The Word of God blew like a hot bellows and the lead was poured on the metal to burn off the dross. But all that refining work done by Jeremiah in delivering God’s Word was in vain (Jeremiah 6:29). There was too much evil in the land and no repentance happened in response. The metal of Judah was useless. The Word of God tested His people and found them rebellious, slanderous, and corrupt. He rejected them and prepared them for the fires of judgment (Jeremiah 6:30).

The Word of God can still test the metal of hearts today. And there are times I feel its heat blow upon my heart, burning away at my impurities of thought, motivation, and pride. And after the forge fires, the Lord can them make of my life something better as I am led to humbly repent, confess my awful sin, trust my amazing gracious Lord, and be useful again for His purposes to make of this life whatever He wants. Thus cleansed, I can be found tested, approved, content and at peace... filled with the holiness of my Savior!

needed: shepherds

And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 3:15

People need to be shepherded. I need to be shepherded. I need people who can minister the Word of God to my sheepish heart. I need God’s knowledge and understanding to guide me, to lead me where I should go and protect me where I cannot see dangers lurking. I need God’s Word to be used by God’s people to shepherd me.

I was ordained to gospel ministry in 1988 and have been privileged to serve as a pastor-shepherd for 30 years now. You’d think that in all that experience helping others, I wouldn’t need any help at all. But I do... Oh, how I do. I feel it sometimes so heavy upon me. There are days my confusion, pain, and personal heartache lead to strings of sleepless nights... and that is just from my own personal circumstances, not just the burdens I bear for others. Add their pain to my own, and I would never make it far without good shepherding care.

What God has given me to bear right now I must bear with the help of fellow shepherds. God can use them to minster the guidance of Jesus, our Great Shepherd. How thankful I am not to be alone! How wise is our God to provide this ministry to weary and hurting hearts prone to wander from Him. And Oh how I need to feel it now!

a few words with God

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:2

There are no instant answers, simple secrets, or inside methods of spiritual success with God. Rash “fast food” prayers and hasty emotional reactions have no business being in our practical theology. Worshiping God, knowing Him, walking with Him, and enjoying Him are matters of serious diligence. They can greatly enhance our daily life rythyms and through spiritual disciplines can flow into our lives, but never believe for a moment that belief in God, praying to God, or trusting God with hard circumstances (especially when other people’s choices are involved) are simplistic efforts. God is vastly above us in every way. Faith is kind of hard work because of that.

God’s immensity guarantees we cannot worship rashly. We can’t reduce walking with God down to “4 steps” or a three letter acronym. We also can’t lash out at His sovereign love when it clashes with our pre-conceived notions of what we think we should get from God. We pray, but God is in heaven, in control of everything, and we simply are not. We should never think of prayer as our means of getting God to give us what we want.

Real prayer that is mature will indeed ask of God. It may ask bold things in faith. Jesus encouraged that. But it will always align itself under the Lord’s own prayer that teaches His disciples not to be hasty: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Those few words, put to our heart’s requests can keep us from being rash or hasty with God.

getting justice in Jesus

Many seek the face of a ruler,

but it is from the Lord that a man gets justice.

Proverbs 29:26

Life is unfair

when people in power don’t care

they seek power for themselves

ignoring the human hell

sin makes among us

Oh, how we need Jesus!

We treat each other mean

with hearts so unclean

it’s a jungle of pain

seeking personal gain

the struggle destroys us

Oh, how we need Jesus!

Jesus suffered under Pilate

knowing what injustice meant

He was despised and hated

but accepted what was fated

He suffered and died for us

Oh, how we need Jesus!

Now Jesus reigns as King

and His praise we will sing

as we cry out for justice

finding relief only in Jesus

tears wiped away from us

Oh, how we need Jesus!