Reading
- Jer. 23:9-40
Devotional
Jeremiah was incredibly distraught by the ongoing messages of the false prophets. He said:
9 My heart within me is broken Because of the prophets; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD, And because of His holy words. 10 For the land is full of adulterers; For because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, And their might is not right.
(Jer. 23:9-10 NKJV)
GOD pronounced doom upon these prophets:
11 “For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD. 12 “Therefore their way shall be to them Like slippery ways; In the darkness they shall be driven on And fall in them; For I will bring disaster on them, The year of their punishment,” says the LORD. 13 “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err. 14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
(Jer. 23:11-14 NKJV)
Then GOD gave His people instructions regarding what to do about these liars:
16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD.
(Jer. 23:16 NKJV)
Today there are people who speak things in the name of GOD that are not true. How can you and I know whether someone is telling the truth? Thankfully today we have the complete revealed word of GOD—all of His thoughts revealed to man are in the Bible. That is how He speaks to us today, so, the way we can know if someone is lying or telling the truth is to compare what they say against the Bible. As a result, it is very important that we be familiar with what GOD has said, so that we can avoid being tricked into disobeying GOD, and so that we can know how He wants us to live. It's very important that we read the Bible regularly.
