Year 6, Day 64: Jeremiah 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

Jeremiah continues to be a difficult book to read because so much of the book is about rebellion.  The people aren’t listening to God.  They aren’t listening to God speak through Jeremiah.  They don’t really care about God, God’s ways, or God’s desire for their life.  They aren’t looking to God or God’s messengers for approval.

In fact, they are looking to rebel against Jeremiah.  They are tired of Jeremiah and his message.  They are looking to bring harm to Jeremiah.  Not only are they not looking to Jeremiah for approval, they are finding their own approval by planning harm to Jeremiah!

So what does God say to all of this?  God tells Jeremiah to not even pray for them.  This is twice that we’ve heard this command from God.  God tells Jeremiah that if they are not going to look to Him for approval, then He will not feel the need to hear them when they cry out to Him.  Learn that lesson.

We will surely all rebel.  We will all sin.  But when we sin, we should want to repent.  We should want to be restored.  We should want God to hear us win our sin and in our need.  That is why we should seek the approval that comes from Him.

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