Jeremiah 23:25-29: in context

God speaks against the false prophets who prophesy lies in his name, telling their own dreams and the deceit of their own hearts. He draws a sharp line between their empty inventions and his true word. Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, he says, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? And then he describes what his word is like: is not my word like fire, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? God's word is not empty like the false prophets' dreams; it is like fire and like a hammer.

God contrasts two things: the false prophets' dreams, which are mere chaff, empty human invention, and his own word, which is like fire and like a hammer. The chaff is worthless, blown away, without substance; so are the inventions of those who prophesy their own dreams. But God's word is not chaff; it is wheat, substance, nourishment. And more than that, it has power: it is like fire, which burns and purifies and cannot be ignored; like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces, able to shatter what is hard. God's word is living and forceful, unlike the empty words of human invention. This exalts the power and substance of God's word over the emptiness of human invention. There are many words in the world, human opinions, speculations, inventions, the equivalent of the false prophets' dreams, which are chaff, without power to save or transform. But God's word is different; it is fire and a hammer, living and active, able to burn away what is false, break what is hard, and accomplish what human words cannot. The word of God, Hebrews says, is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. God's word has power that human words lack. This should make us prize and heed God's word above the chaff of human words. We can give our attention to the endless human words around us, opinions, speculations, the dreams and inventions of those who speak their own thoughts, which are chaff. But God's word is wheat, and it is fire and a hammer, with power to nourish, to burn, to break, to accomplish. To neglect God's word for the chaff of human invention is to trade the wheat for the straw, the fire and hammer for empty air. My word, God says, will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I please. This calls us to prize and heed God's word above the chaff of human words. God's word is not empty like the false prophets' dreams; it is like fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock, living and forceful, able to accomplish what human words cannot. And we are called to give it its due weight, prizing it above the chaff of human invention, heeding it and letting it do its work in us, its fire purifying, its hammer breaking what is hard, receiving the wheat of God's word rather than the straw of merely human speculation, and trusting its power to accomplish what God sends it to do.

Do I give my attention to the endless chaff of human words, opinions, and speculations, while neglecting the substance and power of God's word, and can God's contrast between the false prophets' dreams, which are chaff, and his own word, which is like fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock, move me to prize and heed God's word above the chaff of human invention, letting its fire purify me and its hammer break what is hard, and trusting its power to accomplish what human words never could?