You Need a New Doctor

Passage: Jeremiah 5:30-31; 6:13-15

30 "A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
13 "From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.
15 Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the LORD.

Early in his ministry Jeremiah experiences that which is common to all the prophets of God: resistance. No one wants to hear what Jeremiah has to say.
Which is too bad. In Jeremiah God is offering his people one last chance. He’s telling them that they have a serious problem that, if left unchecked, will kill them all. The problem is that Jeremiah isn’t the only prophet in Judah. It turns out that though the people of God have abandoned God, they haven’t stopped being religious. They still meet at the temple. They still pray. They still worship. And they still consult priests and prophets. It’s just that they attend a temple that is no longer inhabited by the one true God. They maintain rites and rituals that have been emptied of any connection to the living God. And they enlist prophets who are deaf to the voice of God. Their priests and prophets tell them only what they want to hear.

Jeremiah’s grating tone and condemning message stand in bitter relief to the religious candy floss his people have been consuming. Jeremiah’s people have lost their appetite for God; for God’s Word. So they spit it out as soon as they’re exposed to it. To their deadly detriment. The medicine of God’s Word is the only antidote to the infection that’s eating them from the inside. They don’t even realize they’re dying. Jeremiah laments the fact that the very people entrusted the task of administering life-giving triage to his dying people have given nothing but sweet anesthetic to numb the pain of their spiritual gangrene.

The cure is bitter and hard to take. But it is infinitely sweeter than the slow septic death Jeremiah sees his people dying.
God’s people are constantly faced with this choice: take the bitter remedy of repentance and reconciliation with God. Or listen to the voices that tell you you’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you. Listen to the voices that tell you that you can have God and keep living your life the way you always have. Keep going to the doctor that says, “No, that’s not cancer. It’s just a blemish that keeps growing. Let me prescribe you some cover-up.” The antidote seems painful until you face the alternative. If your doctor keeps telling you what you want to hear, you might want to look for a new one.