My title for this devotion is Burning vs Heeding.

One of the more comically sad sections of Scripture is found in Jeremiah 36. It is one those places where as you read you don’t know whether to laugh at the image conjured up in your mind or be sad by its reality.

Okay, so Jehoiakim (J from here on) is king. He has fallen far from his father Josiah’s status as king. According to 2 Chronicles 36:5 it says, “He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.” In fact, J was one of the last kings to rule in Judah before Nebuchadnezzar (Neb) captured Jerusalem and sacked it for good. He was, in fact, one of the kings taken captive by Neb. Anyway, Jeremiah was told to write down the words J needed to hear and to deliver them. Jeremiah had his scribe, Baruch, do both.

Baruch did as he was told and when asked where the scroll came from and how he came to write those words, he was honest and told them they were dictated to him by Jeremiah. And now comes the comically sad part. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll and then as he read them to the king, the king would cut them off 3 or 4 columns at a time and burn them. I see it comically sad because of the picture conjured in my mind of the king hearing but then basically saying (by burning the words), “Out of sight; out of mind.” It is like two pictures developing. One, of pure obstinence and disrespect for Jeremiah’s (and by proxy God’s words), and the other of him burning up the scroll as though that will make it all go away.

Then it hits me how that is sometimes a picture of people as they read the Word. They blatantly discard the teaching of the Word and even at times like to pretend its not there. They go on to live their life in rebellion or disrespect for God’s truth and His Word.

And lest I point a finger at “they,” I must remember there is a finger pointing directly at my own heart as well. Knowing what God’s Word says but pretending it doesn’t exist should not even be part of me.

“Father, help me not to be Jehoiakim in spirit or in action. Help me not to disrespect You, Your true messengers, or Your Word. And most definitely help me not to pretend Your Word doesn’t speak truth.”