God holds out an offer for rest to recalcitrant Israel (6:16). We all need a rest that is deeper and more invigorating than simple physical and mental recuperation. Most people don’t get the rest that they need because they don’t know what they need rest from. God points to the lie that was being spread in Judah; it was the lie of false peace. “You think you have achieved peace,” says God, “but in fact you are just covering a deep wound that is agitating your soul and which will cause your ruin” (see 6:14). It was an onerous thing to serve the local Canaanite gods and in fact it is an onerous thing to serve any other agenda than God’s agenda. The wound of the human heart is the deep gaping absence of God which we inevitably try to fill by our own achievements. The Devil is constantly disguising himself to win our allegiance. He disguises himself in those things we think we must achieve to feel secure and good about ourselves. He disguises himself in those objects and objectives that we feel we must attain. He is behind every other ‘god’ ever served by humankind. We get bound up in the Devil’s snares all too easily. Ironically, we get so addicted to his agendas that we tend to close our ears to God to protect our own bondage. We are strange creatures and so easily led astray. Thank God that he keeps calling us out as he did to Judah through Jeremiah. Are you willing to listen and be delivered?
Let God help you to loosen your grip on those things you are holding on to that are not in line with his will for you.
Read Jeremiah 6
