No peace
Day 362, Friday, Aug. 8
Jeremiah 8:4 – Chapter 9
These chapters continue the theme of the sinfulness of the people. One particular aspect of that sinfulness is the failure of the religious leaders to name it for what it is: sin.
In verses 8:10-11, Jeremiah writes, “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.”
This is also one of the great failings of the modern church—minimizing the seriousness of the sickness our sin has brought us, and pretending that all is well when it is not well.
Only when a sickness is properly identified and its seriousness recognized can a remedy even be sought.
In the case of sin we know there is a remedy readily available to us in repentance and return to God through the gift of Christ—but if we deny or trivialize the illness, we may not even seek remedy.
In verse 8:22, Jeremiah asks, “Is there not balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wound of my people?”
Yes, there is a physician here, and he waits to be asked to heal.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Friday meditation

Job 17:3-16
“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me? You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph. If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail.
“God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit. My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly. Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
“But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you. My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near. If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness, if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’ where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me? Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”

Prayer focus
Lord, confront us with the truth of our sin that we may repent and be cleansed.