Readings for Pentecost 12

Jer. 23:16-29      

Heb. 11:17-31; 12:1-3     

Luke 12:49-53

Passage for Meditation: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.”  Jeremiah 23:16 

Devotion: A family on vacation took a wrong turn in an unfamiliar town.  Fighting every natural instinct, the dad pulled over to the side of the road, rolled down his window (and choking back his pride) said to a couple walking their dog, “We’re a bit lost here.  Could you tell us how to get back to the interstate?”

The people he asked looked like locals, after all they were walking a dog.  The guy says to the now humiliated dad, “go down two blocks and take a left at the light.”  The dad thanked the couple and headed off in the direction he was told. 

However, when the family made their left at the light after going two blocks- the interstate was nowhere to be found.  It turns out that the couple that the family asked for directions weren’t locals after all, just some folks visiting family with their dog! 

How sad it is when people who want direction in their life from God turn to folks and pastors who don’t listen closely to God’s Word and in turn lead them astray!  Those who fail to call sin for what it is and then direct others to amend their lives by their own power give false direction and false hope to those who desperately need it.  Those who claim God is to be found in places other than where He has promised to be  (Word and Sacrament) or claim that the Christian life is one filled with all sorts of material blessings and not the cross of suffering, speak visions from their own minds and not the mouth of the LORD. 

May the Lord direct all who claim to speak His Word pay careful attention- so that those who hear from them may receive what the Lord has truly promised!