Today's Reading:
Jeremiah 23,24,25; John 19
Scripture
“I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, then they would have announced My words to My people, and they would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.” (Jeremiah 23:22)
Observation
Wanting the authority of God, these so-called prophets would speak from their own futile imagination. They would measure situations and events with their standards, and they called the shots by what seemed best to them. They tried to say what would pacify the people. However, God’s displeasure was shown and He speaks — “Had they stood in My counsel, they would have announced My words to My people …” The main issue was that these prophets didn’t take time to counsel with God. They did not take the time to listen.
In order to catch God’s heart, you need to hang around the Lord. You cannot be in a rush to be first. If we don’t take the time to be before the Lord, we begin to sound less and less like Him.
James 3 gives us two sources of wisdom.
- The first is an earthly wisdom. It is vulnerable and polluted with jealousy and selfish ambition (v. 16).
- The second source is wisdom from above. Its hallmarks are that it is evidenced by these qualities: peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
Application
Standing in God’s counsel will give us a heavenly wisdom. If I am to share God’s Word, I must take time in His presence to sort things out. I need to invest the necessary time to look through His Word for hints of wisdom and insight. Otherwise, I will rush into saying what others are saying rather than to wait on what God is revealing to me and then sharing what He is revealing.
It’s always easier to duplicate than it is to incarnate.
I have always been impacted by what Jeremiah said in a previous chapter: “If you will return, then before Me you will stand. If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman” (Jer. 15:19).
Prayer
God, You are looking for faithful spokespersons who will stand in Your counsel. Lord, I so desire to be one of these. I will stand in Your counsel.