August 15, 2001
"Am I only a God nearby,"
declares the LORD,
"and not a God far away?
Can anyone hide in secret places
so that I cannot see him?"
declares the LORD.
"Do not I fill heaven and earth?"
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
In the verses surrounding this God warns the people not to listen to false prophets. An interesting thing to note is that false prophets were not from the neighboring lands (their enemies) these are men from within the tribes of Judah and Israel.. most likely God did call them but their hearts were such that they were not willing to deal with their own lives, heed the call and lead the people in true fashion... they pretended to take on the role - enough so the people could be deceived but they did not allow themselves to be used by God. As a result, they claim to speak the words of God but in reality they do not. If they did they would be carrying a message that called the to turn from their ways - not a message that allowed them to remain comfortable in the lifestyle they were living; one they knew was wrong. In addressing the root problem with these prophets God says in the above verses that these prophets only saw God as nearby, that they were perhaps 'too familiar' with God. By that I mean that they thought they had God figured out, cut down to a manageable size so they 'controlled' their relationship with him... it was an easy untroubled relationship... they had lost a their sense of awe, majesty and wonder of God. Compare this with Jeremiah's relationship with God, in which he constantly pours out his troubled and confused thoughts about God; he sees paradoxes in God's character that he can't comprehend or explain. Jeremiah knows God, he knows him up close and at the same time is very aware of how big God is. Jeremiah was in awe of God, he could see the majesty and unfathomability of God. He was aware that he couldn't understand God, couldn't make him predictable and pocket-sized... God never wants us to lose sight of who he is and the fact that we can't figure him out, summarize him, break him down into a manageable size so we can explain things away... we should always be in awe of God!