Context No. 3834 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 10:11-25: in context

11“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’” 12God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens. 13When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries. 14Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish. 16The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of Armies is his name. 17Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege. 18For the LORD says, “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.” 19Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious; but I said, “Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.” 20My tent has been destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone away from me, and they are no more. There is no one to spread my tent any more, to set up my curtains. 21For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks have scattered. 22The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals. 23LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps. 24LORD, correct me, but gently; not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. 25Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him, consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

Jeremiah sets the living God against the lifeless idols. The idols, he says, will perish, for they did not make the heavens; but the true God made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens. The maker of all things is not to be compared with the dead works of human hands.

Then, near the end, the prophet turns to two humble prayers that are worth taking as our own. First: I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. It is a confession of dependence, that we are not the masters of our own course; we need God to direct our steps. And second: correct me, O LORD, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. It is a prayer that welcomes God's correction while pleading for his mercy in it. Together these prayers form a fitting posture before the Maker of all: acknowledging that we cannot direct our own way, and asking him to correct us gently as we go.

Do I confess, like Jeremiah, that I cannot direct my own steps, depending on God to guide me, and do I welcome his correction while trusting him to temper it with mercy?

Sources

Jeremiah 10:23: "LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps."
Jeremiah 10:24: "LORD, correct me, but gently; not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing."
Jeremiah 10:12: "God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom."