Passage Read: Jeremiah 5-8
Meditation Verses: 5:3-6
Thought
Because the Lord does not treat us as our sins deserve, so we can build up a resistance to His discipline and correction. He calls, and we ignore. He rebukes, and we tell ourselves that He means someone else. He brings a little trouble and we call it a minor setback. He sends greater discipline and we encourage each other to "bend but don't break." We build up a resistance to God's voice, we tell ourselves that God only does good, He's only ever nice, He would never harm His people! So He speaks and rebukes and disciplines, and we blame it on Satan and go on our merry way.
Application
Oh Lord, open my eyes and my ears to hear You. Open my heart to see my sin and all the ways I offend You. Let me be tenderhearted toward You, that You could correct me with a whisper and I would do all I can to change. "The man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed--without remedy." The Lord does rebuke and discipline those He loves, but if I trust in His unending love to forever cover my stubbornness, I am deceived.