September 14, 2020: Day 23 – Jeremiah 23

Whenever you see the word “shepherd” it is a direct reference to the pastors who are overseeing the sheep in their  midst.  We find in Ezekiel and other books of the Bible where the shepherds are depicted as just being interested in their own well being and so are not focused on ensuring that the pastoral care that should be taking place was not taking place.  There is a warning against those who are in this “business” of taking care of the religious and spiritual needs of people and yet they choose to take care of their own needs.

There is a direct transition as we go from vs.23 where God asks a rhetorical question: “Am I a God near by?”  God is able to see all that we do and all that we say and know all that we think.  God is angry because the prophets, the shepherds, are trying to say that God is speaking to them through dreams, and they are saying: The word of the Lord, but in fact it is not God’s word.  God’s Word is not to be misrepresented.  We find this in vs.31: “See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their own tongues and say, “Says the Lord.”  We need to be careful to not invest in our own desires and place them at the feet of God as if it is God who desires these things and not us.