Jeremiah 17:1-4: Your own fault.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

Warren Wiersbe tells the story of President Calvin Coolidge, who, on his return from church one day, was asked by his wife? ‘What did the preacher preach about?’ ‘Sin’ Coolidge replied in his usual concise manner. ‘What did he say about it?’ ‘He was against it.’

Wiersbe goes on to say, ‘’We may forget our sins, but our sins never forget us. They’re inscribed on our hearts until we ask the Lord for forgivenesss…’’ ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (OT), p.1228. But sin was so deeply engraved on the hearts of God’s people in Jeremiah’s time that most were never going to ask for mercy, and their sin would be their undoing.

Hard hearts (1): The people of Judah’s sin went deep (in their hearts) and wide (affecting their religion), and long (corrupting the next generation: verse 2). ‘’Flint was one of the hardest stones known in ancient times…Instead of God’s law being written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33), sin was written there – not only on their hearts but on their altars as well. The altar was the place where sin was atoned for (see Leviticus 1:1-4…); yet in Judah the altar had become a place where sin was inscribed –displayed – before the Lord.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1100. Tom makes the point, in a footnote that the reference is to pagan altars where the people were offering sacrifices to false deities.

Damaged children (2; see Deuteronomy 6:7; 12:2,3 to grasp something of the parental failure): The children were affected and corrupted by the pagan influences their parents gave themselves up to. They grew and developed amid the vilest sin. Parents carry an enormous responsibility before God. None of us are perfect; we all fail in many ways. But we have to face the challenge, ‘What will our children ‘’remember’’ from their home life that will adversely affect them?’ May God have mercy on us if we cause them to stumble in any way, and may He help those of us who still have the opportunity to rectify things. ‘’The need for schooling children in the ways of God could not be more accurately portrayed.’’ Gordon McConville, ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.686.

Sin’s consequences (3, 4): Sin has consequences. Make no mistake about this. You may seem to get away with it for a time, and that can lull you into a false sense of security. But sin is your finger; my finger on the self-destruct button. Sin is costly. It carries a big price tag, and ultimately it leads to the burning anger of God ‘’forever’’, if there is no repentance, and turning to Christ in trust. But if a person does turn to the Lord they will experience His eternally enduring love (Psalm 118:29).

I do not want to have a hard heart that persists in its own way, right to the edge of the cliff and over the top. As the next verses show, it did not have to be this way. Throughout their downward slide the people were repeatedly warned and called back from the precipice; to trust in God and not man.

One final thought for today: God ‘’writes His Word on our hearts so we will get victory over sin (Psalm 119:11; 2 Corinthians 3:1-3).’’ Warren W. Wierbe: ‘With the Word’, p.509.

Prayer: Lord God, keep my heart soft before you.