14 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in regard to the drought:
2 “Judah mourns
And her gates languish;
They sit on the ground in mourning,
And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.
3 “Their nobles have sent their [a]servants for water;
They have come to the cisterns and found no water.
They have returned with their vessels empty;
They have been put to shame and humiliated,
And they cover their heads.
4 “Because the ground is [b]cracked,
For there has been no rain on the land;
The farmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads.
5 “For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,
Because there is no grass.
6 “The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals,
Their eyes fail
For there is no vegetation.
7 “Although our iniquities testify against us,
O Lord, act for Your name’s sake!
Truly our apostasies have been many,
We have sinned against You.
8 “O Hope of Israel,
Its Savior in time of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
9 “Why are You like a man dismayed,
Like a mighty man who cannot save?
Yet You are in our midst, O Lord,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not forsake us!”10 Thus says the Lord to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account.” 11 So the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.”
The first six verses here paint a pretty dismal picture. God had brought (or was bringing) a drought upon the land. There was no water, and even the wild donkeys and does in the field were feeling the strain. Jeremiah issues a plea for his people in the next few verses, asking God why He is like a “mighty man who cannot save?” Then comes the answer…
It isn’t pretty, for the people have wandered far from God, and He will not accept them. Their sins, their rebellion, are being called to account. In fact, God instructs Jeremiah not to bother praying for the people, because He will not listen when they fast or bring burnt or grain offerings.
This doesn’t sound much like the God who “is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression…” (Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Psalm 145:8, Joel 2:13, and Jonah 4:2). Yet the last one, Nahum 1:3, gives us a clue, “the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”
Yet, were they not doing good things so that their guilt might be wiped away? They were fasting and bringing the sacrifices to atone for sin, and still God would not hear them. Jesus gives us another clue, as He told his followers, “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do… so that they will be noticed by men.”
Likewise, I’m reminded again of Samuel’s words to Saul, “does God have as much delight in sacrifice as in obedience?” Of course, the rhetorical question has only one answer, “No, no He does not.” God would rather we obey Him than make a thousand burnt sacrifices or a million grain offerings.
This is yet another reminder to us, our good deeds do not save us or make us right with God. Only one thing could do that, the blood and sacrifice of Jesus. We dare not put our trust in any other thing, but put our hope in Christ alone. For His sake we do those good deeds, not of our own, not “as the hypocrites do”–and there are too many of those today, just as there were in Jesus day and also in Jeremiah’s day.
So let us not be caught up so much in doing “the right things” that we neglect the basics, loving and obeying God, and loving our neighbor. Have not a heart of stone, but the heart of God within you, guiding your steps and walking in humility, for His glory alone.