Jeremiah 6

While this is not the end of Jeremiah’s preaching of doom to the people of Judah it is the last chapter of the first message (Ch. 2-6).  Consider what Jeremiah said to Judah with an eye to what it means to us personally.
•    6:1-9: Through Jeremiah God calls the Babylonians, the nation from the north, to do His (God’s) work, to thoroughly glean the vine.
•    6:10-15: God is speaking and listen to His indictment of Judah: “Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them” (v10).  As we often see today, people are embarrassed or ashamed by the word of God.  Those who hold to that word are depicted as religious fuddy-duddies only to be scorned.  For this the LORD is furious, one of the terms depicting His anger, but when He has come to the end of His patience.  Again, as in previous chapters, the sins are specifically covetousness, deceitfulness and giving heed to the message of the false preachers.  And note: they do all this with absolutely no sense of shame.  When the conscience is effective, the very presence of sin should cause us to blush.  When there is no shame, there is no conscience.
•    6:16-23: Because they have refused to hear those sent by God (v16-19; including the Law of Moses), God now says He will no longer accept their offerings (v20).  God will cause them to fall before the cruel nation.
•    6:24-30: The chapter ends with en exchange between Jeremiah and God.  Jeremiah says we know about this nation and their cruelty; the people are afraid of them (v24-25).  He pleads with the people to repent (v26).  In response the LORD tells Jeremiah that he is the “assayer” whose message will reveal that Judah deserves this cruel judgment (v27-30).  Their stubborn rebelliousness in rejecting God’s word through His prophet is why “people will call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them” (v30).

This chapter reveals one of the reasons why the people of this world today are in deep trouble spiritually.  We see this everywhere: a lack of shame for sin.  Deceit, covetousness and the affirmation of the lying messages of the age are a way of life.  Anyone who stands in the way is despised and ridiculed.  To think that God is in general displeased with the people of this world is taken to be an offensive message.

Consider this personally?  Do we feel shame at the presence of sin?  Do we blush today at even the thought of things that caused us embarrassment at an earlier time in our lives?  Do we excuse those things that are an abomination to God?  We must plead with God on this matter and submit ourselves to His every word.  Having judged His people for their rebellion, will He not to the same for the entire world?  Yes, He will!