Jeremiah 6:13-15 – We need discernment

In Jeremiah 6:13-15 God pointed out the shameless corruption of the people, including the religious leaders who should have known better. Everyone was involved in the corruption. None was excluded. From the common people to the people in position, everyone was taken up with greed showing how shamelessly corrupt they each were.

The religious leaders, the prophets, and the priests were particularly singled out. They were the people who should have led the misguided people back to embrace God’s way but they were deceiving them. Falsely and treacherously they deceitfully gave false hope to the people. Showing no purpose and compassion they superficially dealt with the people’s brokenness. Their work did not get deep enough to help the people deal with the root of their problems. Instead of calling the people to repentance, they were giving them false hope. They were proclaiming and assuring the people of peace when peace was nowhere near.  The whole nation was doomed.

 

So depleted of moral compass, these so-called leaders had no personal shame. Hence, they had no conscience of engaging in such shameless conduct.  They did not even know how to blush. However, when the judgment of God fell, they together with those that they had misled would be punished and swept up in the humiliation.   

 

One clear problem Jeremiah had to deal with was the deeply entrenched deception the people were caught in. Everyone was so deceived that they could not distinguish what was true and what was false. This is a warning for us too. We must seek to be discerning so that we will not fall prey to deception. Of all forms of deception, self-deception is perhaps the worst. It will prevent people, even leaders from diagnosing the real issue and accurately appraising the situation. In the end, all will be deceived, leaders as well as followers.

 

A passage like this calls for us to develop discernment. We need to be able to perceive and distinguish what God is saying and doing. We can only grow in knowledge and understanding of the ways of the Lord and towards maturity with discernment.  Thankfully, by connecting with God we can cultivate discernment.  This we must seek to do and be enabled to navigate through this fallen and deceptive world.