Jeremiah 7 Devotional

No Safety in a Slogan

“Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.”Jeremiah 7:11 (BSB)

God stations Jeremiah at the temple gate with an unexpected message. The worshipers must stop trusting the empty words that repeat the name of the LORD's temple over and over (7:4). They steal, murder, commit adultery, and burn incense to Baal, then stand in God's house and claim they are safe (7:9-10). God asks whether his house has become a hideout for thieves in their eyes, and says he has seen it too (7:11). Let them remember what he did to Shiloh (7:12).

No building, phrase, or religious habit can make a person safe while the heart runs from God. What he wanted from the start was simpler: listen to him, and he would be their God (7:23). Centuries later Jesus stood in the temple, overturned the money changers' tables, and quoted 7:11 (Mark 11:15-17). He then spoke of his own body as the temple that would be destroyed and raised (John 2:19-21). Security is not found in a place or a phrase. It is found in Christ himself.

To think about: What religious habit or familiar phrase are you tempted to lean on for security, instead of on Christ himself?