A few thoughts on Jeremiah 9:23,24
July 30, 2024
“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 9:24 NKJV
Reading through the book of Jeremiah, the prophet known as the ‘weeping prophet’ I can see why he weeps. He grieves over the state of God’s people, once gloriously delivered from slavery, chosen as His own people to display the amazing wonders of God and His love, set apart from among all nations to bear His Name and delight in His presence. And yet they exchanged the Living Water for ’empty and polluted wells’. Following other gods. Abandoning His love. Not holding to His promises. How can one not weep and grieve? And as I weep with him, I realize that he speaks as the voice of God, his heart weeps with the heart of God, who also grieves. Seriously – what more could He do to show His love and to bless His people so that other people will also be blessed?
But before I judge those people in that time period, I see how this scenario plays out not only historically in that nation, but also in the lives of those for whom He has shed His own blood, those He sought after and rescued from the kingdom of darkness and set on high as His chosen ones to bear the name of Christ. Me. Us. And how often we make the same type of exchange. We exchange the truth of God for a lie. We exchange His glory for trinkets and empty promises. We seek to satisfy our eternal spiritual hunger with temporal physical things that cannot even touch it.
I don’t want to be one who causes grief to God, of those who exchange the glory of who He is for something far ‘less than’…..……..
I will share a secret. One of the things that gets to me the most personally is being misunderstood and misrepresented, even maligned. Of the times I have experienced this, it is like a cut to my heart. Of course when it is someone who doesn’t know me, I can let it go more easily. But when it is someone I know and trust, it’s like a fresh wound to my heart. When my motives have been questioned, I have thought to myself, “If you really knew me, you would know I don’t do that, wouldn’t say that, or that I don’t even think that way.” I think about it and wonder how I could have said something differently, or how did this get so misconstrued? I find that I explain myself numerous times to be sure I am understood.
How much more must God feel when I misapply His promises, misjudge His motives and misconclude about His ways! Then I truly miss Him! Jeremiah 9:23 and 24 speaks so clearly to this. Can you hear His heart cry seeking for those who really want to know Him, really want to understand His ways, and stand secure in the truth of His nature? He longs to be known and reveals Himself in infinite ways to those who look for Him, those who follow after Him, those who establish their lives based on who He is and how He has revealed Himself time and time again, namely His unconditional lovingkindness, His just judgments, and His righteousness. These are three of the infinite ways we can know Him, three He chose to describe Himself and upon which He bases His motives and actions. Those who seek to know Him in these ways delight Him.
When in my bereft state of trying to understand God’s ways by looking through the lens of circumstances, thus questioning God and His ways because of the suffering or injustice or confusion I see around or inside me, I have a few ‘go-to’ declarations of truth about God.
God, I know You are good. This doesn’t look good to me. Show me Your goodness.
God, I know You are loving. This doesn’t feel loving to me. Reveal to me Your love.
God, I know You are purposeful, based on Your loving and good nature. Lead me in how to stand when I don’t understand Your purposes.
These are just a few, but when I begin to remind myself of these facets of God’s faithful nature, as well as His infinite wisdom far beyond my comprehension, my spirit is quieted, maybe enough that I can see and hear what His Spirit wants to reveal to me. These are ways I get to know and understand Him just a bit more. It deepens my understanding by faith in who He has revealed Himself to be and allows me to lean into Him.
So what should our goal in life be from God’s perspective? We could answer any number of ways. Of all the things we can strive for on earth, the things for which we would like to be credited – (Jeremiah mentions wisdom, strength and riches, some of many things we often strive for) nothing, absolutely NOTHING compares to following what God has stated here. Our life aim is to know (through personal experience) and understand (‘to be prudent and circumspect’ circum =360 degree, spect=view) Him. We can’t even begin to fill our teacup of understanding in light of the ocean of all that He is. And in that knowing, we reflect His nature within ourselves and outwardly to the world who needs to see Him revealed as well. When I spend time with Him, experience the depths of His love and grow in my understanding and admiration for Him, my worship turns to emulating Him. We become what we behold! I want to be like Him and to make Him known to the world around me. This is how I want to be known and remembered.
The Apostle Paul also reiterated this goal, desiring to consider as loss his past accomplishments in exchange that ‘I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did]; 11 so that I may attain to the resurrection [that will raise me] from the dead.’ Philippians 3:10, 11 Amp
I want to be one whose heart delights in God, a delight of God and one who delights in those things that delight Him……. That’s a lot of delight!
1 Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
be all else but naught to me, save that Thou art;
be Thou my best thought in the day and the night,
both waking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.
2 Be Thou my Wisdom, be Thou my true Word;
be Thou ever with me and I with Thee, Lord;
be Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son,
be Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
3 Be Thou my Breastplate, my Sword for the fight;
be Thou my whole Armor, be Thou my true Might;
be Thou my soul’s Shelter, be Thou my strong Tow’r,
O raise Thou me heav’nward, great Pow’r of my pow’r.
4 Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
be Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
be Thou and Thou only the first in my heart,
O High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
5 High King of heaven, Thou heaven’s bright Sun,
O grant me its joys, after vict’ry is won;
Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be Thou my Vision, O Ruler of all.