Pray not for this people"Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence" (Jer. 14:11-12).
Why should Yahweh speak to Jeremiah in this way concerning Israel, His special people that are called after his own Name?
The answer is given in the preceding verse "Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins". They have wandered away from worship of him is their Saviour (v. 8) to worship of idols, though not exclusively as they still payed lip service to their God.
However, lip service, half-hearted worship and semi-obedience are not what Yahweh requires of the true disciple. Jeremiah speaking the word of Yahweh to the house of Israel says "But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation" (Jer. 10:10). The Hebrew translated "true God" is better rendered "God of truth", and this is born out in other versions and the following passages De 32:4, Ps 31:5, 100:5, 146:6.
Thus the "true God" (God of truth) can only be worshipped acceptably "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). So we should all take heed as to how we worship and to our attitude to understanding the word of Yahweh that we are not rejected when we stand before our Judge "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Peter 4:18) |
