Jeremiah 8:4-7 – Nothing is more critical than choosing God’s way

In speaking to Nicodemus in john 3:6, Jesus hinted that the fallen man has another nature known as the flesh. And in Romans 8:7-8, we are told by Paul that “…the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” If we do not have a heart for God and are not fully connected to Him, we tend to choose to be willfully ignorant. Although we have the capacity to make choices, our fallen nature often causes us to choose according to our carnal desires. Jeremiah 8:4-7 show us precisely what the people of Judah had become. Their choice to remain wilfully ignorant had caused them their calamitous hardship.

Asking a series of rhetorical questions, Jeremiah sought to show them how foolish the people of Judah were. They had stubbornly refused to choose God’s way. In verse 4, he asked “when a man had fallen or gone the wrong direction, the natural response should be to pick himself up and move in the right direction. But this was not the case for Judah. They turned away from God and chose to remain in that condition and refused to return to God. None of them would take a pause to reconsider and align their ways. They would persist in their waywardness irresponsibly pursuing their personal interest.

Comparing them to his others creature, God reckoned His people in Judah as senseless horses charging into the thick of the battle without considering the danger. Unlike the stork, Judah could not recognize the season. Even migratory birds know when to move but not God’s people in Judah. God was saying that they had less sense than his other creatures.

Sin is a result of abusing our God-given will. It is choosing to go against God. Every one of us has a freewill. However, it must be noted that having a freewill is not an indication that we can do as we please. Like a train, we are free to move but only on the railway track. Can you imagine the disaster when a train is allowed to move freely in the streets and not on the railway track? God’s word is like the railway tracks to our lives. As we allow it to guide us then can we travel safely through life. If we choose to go off course from God’s Word, we choose a disastrous end. Our choices always determine our destiny.