15 Listen and give heed, do not be haughty,
For the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God,
Before He brings darkness
And before your feet stumble
On the dusky mountains,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into deep darkness,
And turns it into gloom.
17 But if you will not listen to it,
My soul will sob in secret for such pride;
And my eyes will bitterly weep
And flow down with tears,
Because the flock of the Lord has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother,
“Take a lowly seat,
For your beautiful crown
Has come down from your head.”
19 The cities of the Negev have been locked up,
And there is no one to open them;
All Judah has been carried into exile,
Wholly carried into exile.20 “Lift up your eyes and see
Those coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 “What will you say when He appoints over you—
And you yourself had taught them—
Former [c]companions to be head over you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
Like a woman in childbirth?
22 “If you say in your heart,
‘Why have these things happened to me?’
Because of the magnitude of your iniquity
Your skirts have been removed
And your heels have [d]been exposed.
23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin
Or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can do good
Who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 “Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw
To the desert wind.
25 “This is your lot, the portion measured to you
From Me,” declares the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
26 “So I Myself have also stripped your skirts off over your face,
That your shame may be seen.
27 “As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings,
The lewdness of your prostitution
On the hills in the field,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?”
One verse really caught my attention in this passage, though there is plenty to shock us throughout. In v. 17 Jeremiah says, “My soul will sob in secret for such pride…” This is echoed right from the beginning where God tells them to listen and not be haughty. And then again in v. 19, the king and queen are told to “Take a lowly seat” for their crowns are no more.
That is, they may have still had physical crowns, but after the destruction of God’s judgment, there was no authority left in them, and no one to govern. To the end, Israel thought they could cover up their sin, but just as the leopard could not change his spots (v. 23), they could not bring themselves to be rid of their wickedness.
Their pride was their undoing, but God would not let that stand. It would all be exposed in the end (v. 27), and all the nations would see that the result of their unfaithful hearts. They put on a good show, and thought they had covered up all the dirt, but filth has a way of making itself known. Again, it all comes back to their pride.
I was just reading a book series where a man (Drew) was given a gift of seeing into the spiritual realm. Except Drew didn’t think he was seeing angels and demons, but alien invaders. He trusted in what he knew, instead of accepting there might be something to this God thing. Not until Drew was brought low, and humbled himself, could he accept the truth.
When he finally put his trust in God and listened to God’s calling, amazing things happened, but until then Drew thought it all depended on him. Whether we are knee-deep in sin, or just merrily going our own way in spite of what we know to be true, God is calling each of us. He is speaking to our hearts every day (v. 15).
Will we “listen and give heed (obey)”, or will our haughty hearts rule the day once more? When we choose the latter, we have the illusion of control. Yet there are indeed spiritual forces at work in this world, and they will take control if we do not yield our hearts and minds to God. What is God asking you and me today? Are we listening?