Our reading today is  Jeremiah 32-36, and I’m calling the episode “I Can’t Hear You.”

The Lord had Jeremiah invite the Rechabites in for a little social activity, and He told Jeremiah to provide wine to them. When it was offered to them, they declined, saying that their ancestor Jonadab told them not to ever drink wine. In addition, they weren’t to build houses, plant crops or build houses to live in. So they had always refrained from doing any of those things.

And then God told Jeremiah to tell the people of Judah and Jerusalem that they needed to learn a lesson from the Rechabites. They had no trouble following the command of Jonadab their ancestor, who was only a man. But the people of Judah and Jerusalem refused to follow the command of *GOD*!

I’m sure you’ve heard the meme, “You had one job to do….” All they had to do was to not worship any other god but the one true God, and they couldn’t even do that, even when they were reminded by the prophets sent by God time and time again. And time and time again they were warned, “If you keep on in your rebellion, you will pay dearly”, to no avail. 

So what does this mean for us? Will we have an excuse? I don’t think so. We have the written Word of God. And today with most of us having smartphones, we have it with us whenever we want to read it. Not to mention this humble podcast. 

When we stand before God, will He be pleased with us?  

So God tells Jeremiah to write down everything He had told Jeremiah to say to the people of Israel, Judah all the other nations. God said that perhaps once they hear about the coming calamities, they will change their ways. If they do, God will forgive them and bless them.

So Jeremiah has Baruch write everything down on the scroll as he dictates what God had told him.

Skipping to the point I want to discuss…When King Jehoiakim heard Jeremiah’s friend and scribe, Baruch read what was written, he had the scroll burned in sections, as it was read. He didn’t like what he heard, and in essence he does what a petulant child who puts his fingers in his ears and cries, “Lalalalalah! I can’t hear you!” As if not hearing lets him off the hook.

Of course such behavior is not at all effective for a child, and it didn’t work for Jehoiakim. 

How foolish it is to ignore warnings and admonitions from God. In Jeremiah’s day, he was the bearer of the Word of God. Today, we have the entire Bible. We have the benefit of being able to study what it says, so that we know what will please, or displease God. So, of course, everyone who hears it automatically heeds what it says, right? Not so much. Like Jehoiakim, many choose to act as if it never existed. They ignore it. And that’s why the world is in such bad shape today. All we can do, beloved, is continue to live for the Lord and share the Good News whenever the Holy Spirit gives us the opportunity. 

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 32 ESV, Ch. 33-36 NET

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