Learning To Love And Understand God’s WordSample

When was the last time you thought, I have this problem, I’ll go to my Bible, and find the answer. No? We go to all kinds of other places to find the answer. We vent to our friends, we call our moms, we consult social media. We read articles written by people who may or may not be experts. We get distracted, we pray half-heartedly, we give up. And then we wonder why we don’t have clarity! We wonder why our lives lack meaning and why we spend most of our time feeling overwhelmed and disoriented. Sound familiar? 

I have some good news and bad news. The good news is: This is not a new problem. God addressed it through an ancient leader thousands of years ago. The bad news is: The problem is worse than we even thought. There are many distractions that want to give us comfort and direction without truth—and they tempt us to follow them. They might look and sound like they are smart and wise, but God says otherwise. He calls these people—people who claim to have truth— false prophets. Take a look at what the book of Jeremiah (named after the prophet) had to say about his people looking outside of God’s voice for direction: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’ But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?” (Jer. 23:16-18)

But for today, take the words from Jeremiah as a warning for our modern times. There are many, many voices that try to tell you they hold the truth. Notice your inputs today— social media, images, news, friends, email, work, school—yet there is only one source of ultimate truth: God’s Word.