Day 218 - Break Up Your Unplowed Ground

Daily Reading:  Jeremiah 3-5

The Lord said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.  Jeremiah 3:11

Footnote:  Israel was not even trying to look as if it were obeying God, but Judah maintained the appearance of right faith without a true heart.  Believing the right doctrines without heartfelt commitment is like offering sacrifices without true repentance.  Judah's false repentance brought Jeremiah's words of condemnation.  To live without faith is hopeless; to express sorrow without change is treacherous and unfaithful.  Being sorry for sin is not enough.  Repentance demands a change of mind and heart that results in changed behavior.

Break up your unplowed ground

and do not sow among thorns. 
Jeremiah 4:3

Footnote:  Jeremiah told the people to break up the hardness of their hearts as a plow breaks up unplowed ground -- soil that has not been tilled for a season.  Good kings like Josiah had tried to turn the people back to God, but the people had continued to worship their idols in secret.  Their hearts had become hardened to God's will.  Jeremiah said the people needed to remove the sin that hardened their hearts before the good seed of God's commands could take root.  Likewise we must remove our heart-hardening sin if we expect God's word to take root and grow in our lives.

My people are fools;

they do not know me.

They are senseless children;

they have no understanding.

They are skilled in doing evil;

they know not how to do good.

Jeremiah 4:22

Footnote:  Judah was skilled in doing evil and did not know how to do good.  Right living is more than simply avoiding sin.  It requires decision and discipline.  We must develop skills in right living because our behavior attracts attention to our God.  We should pursue excellence in Christian living with as much effort as we pursue excellence at work.

O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?

You struck them, but they felt no pain;

you crushed them, but they refused correction.

They made their faces harder than stone

and refused to repent.

Jeremiah 5:3

Footnote:  Nothing but truth is acceptable to God.  When we pray, sing, speak, or serve, nothing closes the door of God's acceptance more than hypocrisy, lying or pretense.  God sees through us and refuses to listen.  To be close to God, be honest with him.

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All footnotes taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NIV