Year of Exposure Day 21: When the word of God is scorned, destruction follows.

“The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king as all his officials stood by. It was late autumn, and the king was in a winterized part of the palace, sitting in front of a fire to keep warm. Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up. Neither the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard. Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, he wouldn’t listen.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭36‬:‭21‬-‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The word of God, God’s warnings to His people, truly can make the difference between destruction and blessing.

As we noted yesterday, Jeremiah was often crying out to the Lord, suffering, because of the sins of the people who would not heed the word of the Lord.

The Lord often referenced His people’s tendency toward scorning His word, as we see illustrated in this passage from Jeremiah:

“To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the Lord. They don’t want to listen at all.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Lord had seen that in all levels of the people, there was a turning away from Him. Not only that, they came up with their own ridiculous remedies, only making things much, much worse for themselves.

““From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are all frauds. They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their disgusting actions? Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Yes, the people wanted their own useless remedies. They refused the water of life, choosing rather to turn to the dry cisterns of their own making.

“For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Lord had offered them the way to peace, but they repeatedly refused it.

“This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’ I posted watchmen over you who said, ‘Listen for the sound of the alarm.’ But you replied, ‘No! We won’t pay attention!’”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The peoples’ scorning of the word of God, left no end for them, but destruction: destruction they had chosen.

““Therefore, listen to this, all you nations. Take note of my people’s situation. Listen, all the earth! I will bring disaster on my people. It is the fruit of their own schemes, because they refuse to listen to me. They have rejected my word.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We began last time by considering the way the prophetic word of God—as spoken through Jeremiah—was treated by God‘s people. We considered the fact that Jeremiah (who spoke for the Lord) was not welcome in the house of God. So, as we discovered, when the Lord spoke to Jeremiah another word of warning for the people, Jeremiah had to give the prophetic word to his scribe, Baruch, charging him to take it and read it in God’s house.

Just before our opening scripture we are told that Baruch did take what had been dictated to him by Jeremiah and read it to some of the leaders, who, in turn, informed the king of what they had heard.

Our opening scripture reveals that the king had the word read to him, but scorned the word from the Lord, cutting it up and casting it into the fire.

How patient our Heavenly Father is with us! But scorning God’s word would prove to be a fast track to destruction for God’s people.

Child of God, how can we expect that the Lord would deal any differently with us if we repeatedly scorn His word?

Let us take seriously this word of warning by the writer of Hebrews:

“So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!