We NEED the quiet!
Jeremiah is given multiple strong words from the Lord to speak to Judah and Jerusalem because the people had turned from God. The Lord says, "everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart."
Jeremiah faithfully obeyed. But the people began making plans to silence him: "But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more."" Jeremiah 11:19
The Lord had sent Jeremiah with a difficult message. The people had a choice: repent and return to the Lord. Instead, they rejected both the message and the messenger.
They were so committed to their sin that they were willing to commit further sin to protect it.
That should challenge us.
One of the dangers of becoming entangled in sin is that we can begin justifying, hiding, or even committing additional sin to protect what we refuse to surrender. When our response to conviction is defensiveness, justification, or anger rather than repentance, we should stop and examine our hearts.
We really need to press into quiet time with the Lord. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to make us aware of sin that so easily entangles our hearts.
Are we protecting something God is calling us to surrender?
Are we willing to ignore His Word, justify our actions, or push away those who lovingly speak truth into our lives simply so we can remain where we are?
Sometimes we don't recognize how deeply sin has taken hold.
This is why we NEED the quiet.
We need time alone with the Lord. We need to open His Word and invite the Holy Spirit to search our hearts. We need to turn from sin and turn toward Jesus. Heb 12:1-2 calls us to lay aside the sin that so easily ensnares and turn to Jesus.
If the Lord is revealing something in your heart today, don't run from conviction.
Flee from sin. Run to Jesus. Fix your eyes on Him.
-To Know Jesus. To Live on Mission.