GUIDED IN GOD’S WORD

Jeremiah 8:1-22

Tuesday, 04 November 2025

“…But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.  How can you say, ‘We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,’ when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?”-Jeremiah 8: 7-8

Imagine a situation when you are lost but do not know that you are lost. For example, you are travelling and you have taken the advice of someone who gives you directions to your destination. You may start your journey confidently and keep going only to find out, after a while that you are lost! Consider for a moment how you could have saved yourself all the trouble that you have landed in.

The example of Judah

Our reading for today, from Jeremiah 8, describes a similar situation. Jeremiah prophesied to the Jews at a time when the wrath of God was being poured out upon them for their sins and apostasy. Even when they were steeped in sin, they still believed that they were righteous and did not feel the need to return to God with repentant hearts. 

What was the reason for their confidence in their own righteousness and what lead to this situation? Verse 7 says My people do not know the requirements of the law because the “lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely”.

The very people who were to teach the requirements of the law, the scribes and the teachers, did not interpret the law of God correctly and gave the people a false sense of security. This resulted in the people going astray, not realizing that they were wrong. They were not even looking for the right way until disaster overtook the nation when God sent his judgement upon then.

Relating it to our lives today

We live in a time when we are surrounded by countless teachers of the word of God. God has warned us of such a time in 2 Timothy 4:3 saying “the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” We need to be vigilant so that we do not become people who listen and blindly accept messages frompreachers/teachers/prophets. In fact, Paul in addressing the Corinthian Church instructed in 1 Cor.14:29 “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” Another example is of the Bereans in Acts 17:11 “they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

Paul teaches in 1 Thess 5:19-21 “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test them all; hold on to what is good.”

There are a couple of things we need to note here:

1. Do not quench the spirit. Avoid distractions and pay close attention.

2. Do not treat prophesies with contempt. When people of God share the word, don’t dismiss it as being irrelevant or baseless. 

3. We are to test all messages that we hear. Weigh them carefully, check the scriptures to verify of what is being taught. 

4. Only after examining the scriptures, will you know what is good. Then you can hold on to what is good.

Reflection

The only way to keep from being misled by false teachers, or even our own over-confident attitude, is to be familiar with the Word of God. Meditate on it regularly! Dig deeper by reading more to understand and referring to similar texts in the Bible. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance when you search the scriptures so that you understand what God speaks to you to keep yourself rightly in His Way.

Remember: “When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth” John 16:13 (NLT)