" Not Valiant for the Truth "

Jeremiah 9:1-16   " OH that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people ! OH that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them ! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not ME, saith the LORD. Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know ME, saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD of Hosts,  'Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of MY people ? Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. Shall I not visit them for these things ? saith the LORD: shall not MY soul be avenged on such a nation as this ? For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness  a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.

And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. Who is the wise man, that may understand this ? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through ? And the LORD saith,  Because they have forsaken MY law which I set before them, and have not obeyed MY voice, neither walked therein; but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim (idol), which their fathers taught them: therefore thus saith the LORD of Hosts, the GOD of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.' "

     It is not difficult to pinpoint the sins that brought the Israelites into such a pitiful condition. In verse three the LORD says, "They know not ME "; and in verse six GOD goes one step further by stating,  "They refuse to know ME." The underlying problem was their rebellious refusal to walk with the LORD. Of course, most of them vehemently denied these accusations; yet, it was clear that although they  professed to know the LORD, they were only deceiving themselves. Having  "taught their tongue to speak lies" (v.5), the Israelites were at the point where they could not even distinguish truth from lies. As the result, they fell victim to Satan's many delusions.

     Furthermore, the LORD also said of them,  "They have forsaken MY law ... neither walked therein"  (v.13), and the result was that they  "walked after the imagination of their own heart"  (v.14). This reminds us of 2 Timothy 4:4 "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Remember, dismissing GOD's truth always leads to dulled discernment and, ultimately, to the capitulation to error.

     Another oft-overlooked cause for Israel's backsliding is delineated in the middle of verse three- "They are not valiant for the truth."  A believer must never be passive about truth. Wherever GOD's truth is involved, a conflict is inevitable; therefore, a valiant attitude toward that truth is absolutely essential. Just a mental, privately-held assent to the truth will not protect the believer against backsliding. GOD desires for HIS truth to be CONTINUALLY and BOLDLY proclaimed and actively used to EXPOSE and OPPOSE ERROR; otherwise, the error enjoys a protected haven and will rapidly proliferate (multiply/spread). MHR

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

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