Yes, I am against the prophets who prophesy lying dreams, says the LORD, and who lead my people astray by recounting their lies and by their empty boasting. From me they have no mission or command, and they do this people no good at all, says the LORD.
God has no kind words for the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day. Instead of role modeling for the people with genuine lives and honest proclamations, they lived according to their own inclinations and provided sugarcoated prophecies to the people. It may have made everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside, but it was, in fact, the worst of times to pull such a shenanigan.
In fact, “the worst of times,” if we may borrow from Charles Dickens, would be a great way to describe the situation of Jerusalem at the time. Babylon’s growing power threatened to wipe Jerusalem off the map; the 590s B.C. would see a siege of the city, as well as the humiliating deportation of its king, at the forceful hands of Nebuchadnezzar II. It seemed as if things just couldn’t get any worse.
This problem could have been avoided. Jeremiah’s messages from God reveal that all of this misfortune was the direct result of the people’s infidelity to the covenant with God. Had they remained faithful in the power of Yahweh to deliver them from the evil nations that threatened them (instead of resorting to treaties with other evil nations for extra security), had they retained the purity and devotion of their religious life (instead of copying the disgusting practices of child sacrifice and ritual prostitution practiced by other nations), had they broken out of selfish mindsets and lived according to a rigid moral compass (instead of bending to their own self-interest and oppressing the lowliest of their people), God would have delivered them.
The historical facts may make us scratch our heads and wonder if this deliverance could really have happened, even if the Israelites had been faithful to the max—but stop scratching your head for a moment and consider that this is the exact feeling that the Israelites had at the time. A lack of faith. This lack of faith is what led to Jerusalem’s destruction at the hands of Babylon.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
So this is the situation of Jerusalem around the time that God (through Jeremiah) rails against the false prophets. Right when the people need to straighten up and fly right, the poser prophets have to come in and pat them on the back for doing a nice job. Hence, we can understand His position. But this is not merely an outburst of almighty frustration; God is telling us something that resonates truly in any age, in any place, and for any person.
Look at what Jeremiah says about the false prophets:
From me they have no mission or command, and they do this people no good at all, says the LORD.
Have you ever felt a keen sense of mission? Perhaps you’ve been working on a project or leading a seminar or retreat. Perhaps your work was more long-term, like starting an organization or raising a child. Whatever the case, you have felt it—a sort of pull from the future, a vision of success that calls to you and gives you the inspiration to keep working, as hard as you can, to achieve your goal. Without a mission, we could accomplish nothing. D-Day was a success because level-headed officers and soldiers, in the midst of unspeakable chaos, were able to look past it all and figure out a way to achieve their mission objectives.
God gives each of us a mission, too, but we can only discern this mission—feel it, resonating in our bones like a song—when we are doing His will. If we drift away from the covenant that Jesus made with mankind when he shed his blood for us, we forget our mission; we go off-road; we may even crash and burn, like the Israelites of yore.
What is your mission? Have you listened for it lately? Have you felt it lately? Renew your commitment to God; purify your mind and heart, and you will be able to hear your mission.
God always makes it clear that He wants to work with us. Jeremiah tells us today that when we remain faithful to God, He gives our lives mission, meaning, purpose. It is up to us to choose to accept it.
Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. (James 1:22-24)
That's why perspective is so important—it brings us back to the starting point, one might say the Origin, from which, for which, and through which we accomplish all good ends. My flash of enlightened perspective (for which I am still thanking God) was caused and is summed up by this excerpt from another church hymn, a versed adaptation of Isaiah 61:1 (which is also referenced in Luke 4:18):