Day 218: The only worthwhile boast - Jeremiah 9 vs 17 -26

17-18 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “Consider all this and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals. Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes. 19 Hear the people of Jerusalem crying in despair, ‘We are ruined! We are completely humiliated! We must leave our land, because our homes have been torn down.’”

20-22 Listen, you women, to the words of the Lord; open your ears to what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one another how to lament. For death has crept in through our windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and young men no longer gather in the squares. This is what the Lord says: “Bodies will be scattered across the fields like clumps of manure, like bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury them.”

23-24 This is what the Lord says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!

25-26 “A time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit - the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places, and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts.” Jeremiah 9:17-26 New Living Translation (English Standard Version link)

It was a custom in Israel then (and still is in some countries) to call for women to come and weep and wail when someone had died. What was the reason God said those women were soon going to be needed in Jerusalem? (vs 19)

Disaster was coming! Verses 20-22 are a graphic description of what the city would be like when the armies of Babylon sacked it. It's a frightful picture. Why was God letting them fall into the hands of the Babylonians? (vs 25-26)

We see there that circumcision was carried out by other nations as well as Israel. For the Jews, however, it signified the covenant God made with Abraham. But God wasn't looking for mere outward rites, He longs for the love and obedience that flows from our heart. And over the years the Israelites had drifted further and further from God's laws and had embraced the wicked customs of nations who worshipped idols. Do verses 23-26 perhaps point to an underlying reason why men and women may steadily and increasingly turn away from God and reject His will for our lives?

Is it not the problem of pride? When people have things such as brilliant intellects, great power or abundant wealth, they often boast that those are the things that brought them success and security. They focus on themselves rather than God. Some become arrogant and mock anything to do with God or Christianity. Others are just completely indifferent to God. The people of Israel had fallen into that condition and thought they were doing fine, even though they had pushed God out of their lives.

But the only thing in the world that is really worth boasting about is God Himself. We can take pride in God's character because His love is never exhausted and He delights in justice and righteousness. No wonder that, despite the great intellect God had given him and the amazing missionary work he accomplished, the apostle Paul said “As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.” Galatians 6:14