Jeremiah 9:7-9 – Be careful to only speak the truth

Continuing with Jeremiah, God knew that the people were living a life of lies and deceit. Hence for their refusal to take the easier path of being truthful, God will have to refine and assess them. There would be a shifting process so say God in Jeremiah 9:7.  In other words, for their refusal to walk with God, Judgment would be their inevitable experience. Yet judgment would not be so much a destruction as it would be a purification. Despite their defiance, God should exercise mercy in the midst of judgment seems hard to imagine. It baffles us to think that people should still persist to live ungratefully in sin, despite having such a gracious and merciful God.   

In Jeremiah 9:8-9 God assured them that there would be purging. A radical process of refining would have to be for them.  They had turned their tongues into deadly weapons, like poisonous arrows. Deceitfully, they would assure their neighbors that there would be peace, only to have them waylaid on the way. Everyone who weaponized their mouth that way would be dealt with. God was sure that what judgment int stalled for them would be justified. He would punish those people who chose to live in such a way that blurred the line between truth and lies.

 

Didn’t Jesus our Lord tell us to be careful with our speech in Matthew 12:36-37? He said that “…every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” The Lord Jesus' summation of the people that He was dealing with at that time was  “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.” If we can discern a person from the content of their words, so can God. So be careful what we say, the actual state of our heart will be made known by our speech.  One quick piece of advice from James the brother of our Lord is worth taking note of.  He said, “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger…” (James 1:19).