August 8

The saying goes, “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” The point is, we are intelligent enough creatures that all of us should be able to learn from the past, including from our mistakes. And yet, all too often, we go right on making the same foolish decisions and committing the same stupid mistakes time after time after time. God commanded Jeremiah to tell Judah: “When people fall down, don’t they get up again? When they start down the wrong road and discover their mistake, don’t they turn back? Then why do these people keep going along their self-destructive path, refusing to turn back, even though I have warned them?.....All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse rushing into battle!” (Jeremiah 8:4-6).
Jeremiah grieved for the people of Judah because even though they knew destruction was coming, they refused to do anything to change their status. “The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone,” the people cried, “yet we are not saved!” (8:20). And whose fault was that? They should have been praying to God. “Open our eyes so we may see! (II Kings 6:16&17). Remove the blinders from our eyes that keep us from the truth! (II Corinthians 4:4).” But no, rather than learn from the past, rather than chart a new course for their lives, the people of God continued to make the same mistakes they always had.
Jeremiah was wise enough to know that, “a person’s life is not his own. No one is able to plan his own course” (10:23). God has a general plan for us all, as well as a specific plan for each of us. He has promised to reward those who are faithful, and punish those who aren’t. God loves all of us and God loves each of us, more than we can ever know. But God’s justice will not be compromised by God’s mercy. “A time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit” (9:25). God continually points out the consequences of our decisions, but we are the ones who ultimately make our own choices.
There really is nothing greater in life than truly knowing God. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, and whose love is unfailing’” (9:23&24; see also I Corinthians 1:20-31). So, do you know Him? Even now, it’s not too late to learn from our past and turn to Him.