Jeremiah 14:10-16: a reflection

10The LORD says to this people: “Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish them for their sins.” 11The LORD said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good. 12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” 13Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” 14Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. 15Therefore the LORD says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine. 16The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.

In this passage, false prophets are telling the people what they want to hear: You will not see the sword or famine; I will give you assured peace in this place. But it is a lie; God had not sent these prophets or given them this message. The people preferred the comforting falsehood to the true but hard word God was sending through Jeremiah. They were drawn to the prophets who promised peace, and away from the one who told the unwelcome truth.

Notice the appeal of the comforting lie. The false prophets said what the people wanted to hear: peace, safety, no coming disaster. And the people were drawn to this message, preferring it to Jeremiah's hard word of coming judgment. It is a deep human tendency: to prefer the comforting falsehood to the hard truth, to be drawn to those who tell us what we want to hear rather than those who tell us the truth we need. The lie was more welcome than the truth.

That appetite for the comforting lie is one we must guard against in ourselves. We are drawn to messages that reassure us, that tell us what we want to hear, that promise peace and ease and no coming trouble; and we can prefer these to the hard truths we need to hear, favoring those who flatter us over those who tell us the truth. But a comforting message is not true simply because it is comforting; and to prefer the pleasant lie to the hard truth is to be deceived to our own harm. Guard your heart against the appetite for the comforting lie; do not favor those who tell you only what you want to hear over those who tell you the truth you need. Be willing to hear the hard truth, even when a comforting falsehood is offered; the pleasant lie leads to harm, while the hard truth, heeded, leads to good. Do not, like this people, prefer the prophets of comfortable falsehood to the messengers of unwelcome truth; love the truth, even when it is hard, over the lie, however comforting.

Lord, in this passage false prophets told the people what they wanted to hear, you will not see the sword or famine, but assured peace; and the people preferred the comforting falsehood to the true but hard word you were sending through Jeremiah. Show me the appeal of the comforting lie, which I must guard against. I am drawn to messages that reassure me, that tell me what I want to hear, that promise peace and ease and no coming trouble; and I can prefer these to the hard truths I need to hear, favoring those who flatter me over those who tell me the truth. But a comforting message is not true simply because it is comforting; and to prefer the pleasant lie to the hard truth is to be deceived to my own harm. Guard my heart against the appetite for the comforting lie; keep me from favoring those who tell me only what I want to hear over those who tell me the truth I need. Help me be willing to hear the hard truth, even when a comforting falsehood is offered; the pleasant lie leads to harm, while the hard truth, heeded, leads to good. Keep me from preferring, like this people, the prophets of comfortable falsehood to the messengers of unwelcome truth; help me love the truth, even when it is hard, Lord, over the lie, however comforting.