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Jeremiah 13 (ESV)
1 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, 4 “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. 6 And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. 11 For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
REFLECTION:
Jeremiah used dramatic actions to convey God’s message according to God’s instructions, because actions give a deeper impression in people, often more than words. Jeremiah repeatedly used actions to preach the message, in order to arouse the curiosity and alertness of the people, so that they could understand his meaning better. The spoiled linen loincloth is a metaphor for the end of the Kingdom of Judah. Although those people had a close relationship with God, they were cast aside by God because of their arrogance and pride and became worthless waste. Proud people always overestimate everything about themselves and often appear pretentious, but God says that pride makes them worthless. Pride will corrupt our hearts until our lives have fallen to a point where they are of no use value in the eyes of God. Pride is one of the most serious sins of all sins. Pride can make people who have been close to God far away from God, and even resist and disobey God. The fall of the devil is due to pride. We should be vigilant and remember the image of the spoiled linen loincloth of Jeremiah in our hearts. We should always be reminded to be humble, not to give the devil a foothold, and not to let pride corrupt our soul and life to a point where we become worthless in the eyes of God.
PRAYER:
Pray that God will make you remember the spoiled linen loincloth of Jeremiah, which represents the corruption of life brought about by pride. Pray that God will examine your heart so that you can see your pride hidden in the depths of your soul. Ask God to destroy this pride no matter if it is expressed in overestimating oneself, judging others, or any other form of expression.
HYMN:
I Will Boast – youtu.be/pBfOcJGEKUU
