Responding to hard words

Nobody likes discipline.  Nobody likes hearing hard words.  But how we respond to them can shape our lives for the good or the bad.

Jeremiah had many hard words for the people of Judah, namely words of judgment for their sin. 

It was always a two-fold message:  Judgment is coming.  But you can avoid it if you will just turn from your sin. 

In chapter 25, he warned the people that they would go into exile into Babylon for 70 years unless they repented. 

Not only did he warn Judah, but he warned the surrounding nations as well. 

How did they respond?  Many didn’t respond well at all.

When many of people, priests, and prophets heard Jeremiah’s words, they seized him, saying, “You must die!  Why are you saying these things?”  (Jeremiah 26:8-9). 

They considered it almost treason to preach that Judah would be destroyed for their sins.  Jeremiah was only saved when the elders of the land stood up for him. 

They pointed out that when the prophet Micah prophesied during the time of Hezekiah, Hezekiah responded by fearing the Lord and repenting, causing God to relent on passing judgment. 

On hearing this, the people released Jeremiah, but we see no signs that they actually turned from their sins.

Their king Jehoiakim was no better.  When another prophet named Uriah preached against Judah as Jeremiah did, Jehoiakim had him pursued all the way to Egypt, and when they brought him back, he had Uriah killed.  (Jeremiah 26:20-23)

At another time, Jeremiah had his scribe Baruch go to the temple and and read out the words Jeremiah had been given by God. 

When he did, the palace officials had Baruch hand them the scroll, and they took it and read it to Jehoiakim. 

Jehoiakim’s response?  He cut them up and burned them.  Then he tried to have Jeremiah put to death too.

How about you?  How do you respond to hard words.  When someone confronts you about sin in your life, do you brush it off?  Do you get angry and attack the person who confronts you?  Or do you take those words to heart and repent?

God’s desire is not to judge people.  His desire is that we turn from our sins and repent.  And by sending people to warn us, he’s giving us that chance. 

How much better for us would it be if we would take those words and let them shape us, instead of casting them aside?

What will you do?