Jeremiah 23:16-40
Among the bad shepherds of Israel, the prophets were particularly guilty. They had deluded the people with the foolish notion that, despite their sins, all would go well for them. They were liars. They had run . . . without the LORD having sent them; they had spoken, but not as the oracles of God (vv. 21, 38; 1 Peter 4:11). A great show of religious activity is far from being always the consequence and the proof of a good spiritual condition. For the Christian now, as for the prophet of old, there is only one rule as to running and speaking: to stand first "in the counsel of the LORD" (vv. 18, 22), in other words, in communion with the Lord, in order to understand and do His will.
In v. 23 a question is asked: "Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?" "The Lord is at hand", the apostle can reply (Philippians 4:5). Has each one of us had the experience of this? The Word of God is a fire (v. 29). In the same way that the flame of the furnace is used to burn up the dross in a metal, the Word is used to purify our soul by burning up the impurities which defile and choke it (Proverbs 25:4). It is the driving force of the believer, like the fire under the boiler (Jeremiah 20:9). But it is also, first of all, the hammer, which alone is able to break man’s rebellious will.