Jeremiah 5:3: “O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? / You have stricken them, / But they have not grieved; / You have consumed them, / But they have refused to receive correction. / They have made their faces harder than rock; / They have refused to return.”

October 4th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Jeremiah has been called the “weeping prophet” because his heart was continually broken by his people’s rejection of his message to repent and turn back to God. Here he described the condition of his nation and their attitudes as stone-faced, hardheaded, and cold-hearted. How we need to be careful to not allow our own hearts to deteriorate into the same hard condition, a hardness that is reflected in our faces. One thing that God consistently uses to soften hard hearts is suffering and crisis. Our hearts tend to get harder rather than softer, when they are left to themselves.

It is said that when Sir Walter Raleigh was led to the block to be executed by beheading, his executioner asked him if he wanted his head to lay to the left or right. Raleigh answered, “It matters little, my friend, how the head lies, provided the heart is right.” This is how the man who understands a personal, flourishing relationship with God answers, and it is a great question to ask ourselves each morning: “How does our heart lie?”

“LORD, help us to keep our hearts and faces soft towards You and others this day.”