Jeremiah (1-31) 17:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jeremiah (1-31) 17:9

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Now a new theme from appears: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ The heart, the innermost thoughts and the affections, are the most deceitful thing we encounter. Our affections lie to us and deceive us more than any outside person ever did. Our minds justify our choices, when we are really driven by our lusts. Your own heart can be the biggest liar to you. Actually, the ‘wicked’ word here is the Hebrew word ‘desperately frail’. Our translators – as do most others – have decided that the best way of translating that is to say ‘wicked’ or ‘sinful’. But the original actually is ‘the heart is very weak and frail’. Well, yes ‘wicked’ could be right, because if the emotions and the affections are weak and frail, they will give way to sin, so it will be a wicked heart. But it is good to keep an eye on the original. These affections of mine cannot be relied upon. They always give me what I want. They always lie to me. Verse 11 is a difficult verse because the translators are at sixes and sevens about quite how it ought to be rendered, and there is the problem that the partridge simply doesn't do what the verse suggests that it does in our translation – although it may not be a habitual practice of the bird that is referred to, but some inadvertent mishap. But, whatever we make of the partridge, the meaning is obvious. ‘He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days.’ This seems to refer to another evil which was common among the Jews: that they extorted one another and gloated over their immoral gains. All of this will also be taken from them as their enemies sweep in. They are going to be expelled as the Lord allows Nebuchadnezzar to come, and the partridge illustration serves that.‘A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.’ They make their shrines up in the hills, but our sanctuary is in the heavens. Our sanctuary is an eternal sanctuary. It is above all; it is a glorious high throne from which God rules and it always has been. That is the place, our holy place, our place of safety and refuge. It cannot be touched by marauding enemies; God keeps it for us and does not allow the wicked to come into heaven, into the sanctuary.‘O LORD, the hope [the anticipation] of Israel.’ We fix our eyes on the coming day. ‘All that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth.’ They think they have engraved their names in the brass posts, the horns, of their altars, but they are going to be destroyed and melted down, and actually their names are written in nothing more substantial than sand or earth – soon eroded and washed away and forgotten. ‘O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.’ The fountain, the source of life and cleansing and refreshing and comfort, the assurance of prosperity and peace, a great fountain. And then a prayer: ‘Heal me,’ – we could say ‘forgive me’ – ‘O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me,’ – rescue me and remake me and re-establish me – ‘and I shall be saved.’ If God does it, it shall be done, for he never works ineffectually. This is a statement of complete trust, and recognition that the things we need most, the hardest things, can only be done by him. He is able to bring life out of death, and hope out of hopelessness.Then the passage closes with these words: ‘For thou art my praise.’ It is an argument based not on merit, but on dependence, on need. I am a person staying close to the Lord, full of gratitude, thankfulness and praise. He has shown mercy to me and I recognise that by the way I live. I trust that he will go on showing mercy to me, for he cannot forsake whose who look to him.

Application

You can see it illustrated very well in the unbeliever, and we have all known that. The heart tells us that certain things are good objectives and pleasurable experiences, and should not be denied us. The heart says that these things that we lust after are not sins, that covetousness is not sinful, that pride is not sinful; it’s wholesome and necessary, and they give it a more attractive name: self-esteem. It says that all these things which in reality are sinful – including filthy things and perverted things – are not sinful. The heart is deceitful; it will convince you of this as an unbeliever. Should you become aware of your sin and your failure, and embarrassed at what you have said or what you have done, the heart straightaway works overtime to justify it. Of course, you were bound to lose your temper, of course you were bound to do this or do that which was a wrong reaction, because you were sorely aggravated and it was utterly unreasonable, and that sort of behaviour is not typical of you, it isn't the real you. The heart will lie to us, so that we don't come under conviction, and we don't repent. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

Sadly, there are whole sections of churches that go by feelings. If it makes you feel good, it must be of the Holy Spirit; it must be good. What? Letting the affections decide what is right and what is godly and what is pleasing to the Lord, when the affections are so sick and frail, and weak before temptation? The affections should be a servant, not a ruler. If you ruled by your affections as a Christian, you are in trouble. Instead, you must let the mind do the ruling from the word of God, and take in hand your will, and instruct the affections what to feel. ‘Love the Lord’, say to your affections constantly. Put before your affections, sights of the Lord and his work and his purposes and his promises. Train your affections to love the things that are worthy to be loved. They are your servants, and they are a good servant. It is good to feel. It's good to wing your praise to heaven with the feelings cooperating and supporting, but if you let them dictate to you, they will mislead you all the time.

‘The heart [the affections] is deceitful above all things, and desperately [frail and weak]: wicked: who can know it?¹⁰ I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.’ As one reads that it makes one think, if the Lord is searching my heart, and is judging me by my heart, and what I love, and the way my affections run, I better start searching my own heart too; I better make sure it is in order. If you had a husband or wife who was so averse to some item of dress that you wore; perhaps your wife doesn't like that gaudy jumper. It’s not her colour, so you'll avoid if you want to please her. If the Lord is going to look upon my heart then I ought to make sure it is fit to be looked on, and examine my affections. What do I love? What must I stop loving? What must I love just a little less because it's all out of proportion, and what should I love more? When we read verse 10, it makes us feel we ought to rush to our hearts and examine them, and start taking them in hand. ‘I the Lord search the heart.’ We know where he is going to search: get there first.

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Jeremiah (1-31) 17:9 Commentary and Bible Study