Jeremiah 11:4  which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’

As a boy in church, I remember learning the Ten Commandments. Even when I could’t recite all ten, I could come up with a couple.  “I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The second one seemed an easy one for me: “No graven images.”

I think most of us probably feel we’ve done okay with that one. We may not have al-ways been what we should be, but at least we don’t have a Baal or Asherah in our house! God really doesn’t like that sort of thing!

Jeremiah was calling the people back to relationship with God. They had fallen far from what He wanted for them. They would have self-identified as ‘children of God’, but God Himself seemed to have a differing opinion. He said if they obeyed His voice and followed His commands, that would qualify them as His people. He still has the same opinion.

We must obey His voice. We must do what He commands. But how do we hear His voice? How would we know what He commands? By reading the Bible and adjusting our thoughts and actions accordingly.

Some think they are doing okay in this. They are quick to point out what Jesus would or wouldn’t do in given situations, but it sort of turns out that it’s just about the same as what they would or wouldn’t do. They haven’t been living in God’s Word, they might not even read it very often. They might feel they have a high opinion of God, but they don’t really care much for the Bible.

So how can they know what God wants? They decide. They go with what they think feels right. You might say they have a closed Bible and an active imagination. But when we do that, we have made an image as vile to God Almighty as any graven image we might set up!

Open your Bible. Obey His voice. Do what He commands. Be part of His people!

 

Blessings,

Pastor Russ