But There is No Peace

“Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“They will thoroughly glean as the vine the remnant of Israel;

Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer

Over the branches.”

To whom shall I speak and give warning

That they may hear?

Behold, their ears are closed

And they cannot listen.

Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them;

They have no delight in it.

But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;

I am weary with holding it in.

“Pour it out on the children in the street

And on the gathering of young men together;

For both husband and wife shall be taken,

The aged and the very old.

“Their houses shall be turned over to others,

Their fields and their wives together;

For I will stretch out My hand

Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord.

For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,

Everyone is greedy for gain,

And from the prophet even to the priest

Everyone deals falsely.

“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

But there is no peace.

“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?

They were not even ashamed at all;

They did not even know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

At the time that I punish them,

They shall be cast down,” says the LORD. (Jeremiah 6:9-15)

The fortune teller makes a fortune for himself by predicting just what his customers want to hear. A message of peace, prosperity, and health will always find a gullible audience willing to unload its last penny for the pleasant hype.

As God’s people in Jeremiah’s day stood on the brink of destruction, watching circumstances turn against them, they were willing to suspend disbelief and cling to the hopeful words of those more concerned with lining their own pockets than with the truth of God.

They had become like couch potatoes fattened on empty gods. The personal trainer—Babylon—had come to kick their lazy bodies off their beds of ease. But they only wanted a simple, quick and painless fix from the disaster they had created.

God’s Babylonian diet was the only solution to their polytheism however. And one way or another, they were going to get on that treadmill and lose it all. In the end, they’d be happy with the results. But they didn’t want to hear it.

God will take us through what we need to go through. He’ll get the truth to us one way or another. But likely as not, we’ll resist him every step of the way.

Send to Kindle