Jeremiah 8: The Blushing Bride

Jeremiah 8. God's broken heart spilled out. We are so foolish.


"When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return? Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying "What have I done?" Each pursues his own course, like a horse charging into battle. Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But My people do not know the requirements of the Lord. How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the Law of the Lord," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have? Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain, prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of My people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush."

The Puritans used to talk about what they called "The gift of tears." I know what they mean, tears that have not been manufactured simply because we know that we're supposed to feel bad. These are the real tears - the tears of a broken heart. You know when you have them, because you can't stop them even if you wanted to.

Sometimes I worry about the church - not only do we not have these tears, but we don't even know how to blush at the wrongs in our midst, in our hearts. We feel bad, but only because we think we're supposed to feel bad. I was praying through the Lord's Prayer the other morning and I was "trying" to repent when I got to the part that said, "Forgive us our sins." I even identified them specifically. You would think that when you voice a particular fault, it would be accompanied by an appropriately broken heart. But in my spirit, I felt as if I was merely reciting a list - cold and manufactured. I prayed for the "gift of tears" but they did not come.

I feel terrible reading Jeremiah 8. But I want to feel worse.