April's Thought: Have You Dissembled in Your Heart?

To paraphrase Jeremiah chapter 42 - the children of Judah asked Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord, and all that the Lord told them to do, they would do - whether it be good or evil. They promised they would obey the word of the Lord. They wanted God to show them the way wherein they must walk, and the thing that they should do. God promised them that if they would obey, He would build them up, and not pull them down, and He would plant them and not pluck them up: God repented of the evil that He did to them. God told them that He would be with them to save them and to deliver them. God told them that He would show mercies unto them. However, if the children of Judah did not obey the voice of the Lord, God told them the consequences: they were going to die. They were going to die by the sword, famine and by the pestilence, and none of them would remain or escape from the evil that God was going to bring upon the land.

But in verse 20, God explained that he knew the people had dissembled in their hearts. (Dissembled: false appearance in order to conceal facts, feelings or intentions; to put on the appearance of something not actually felt or true; to hide real beliefs, feelings or intentions through misleading speech or behavior.)

God told them what He would do for them if they would obey, and He told them what He was going to do if they did not obey. They still dissembled in their hearts. They didn't plan on obeying God. Notice how they did not say they weren't going to obey, but their actions spoke louder than their words. In Jeremiah 43:2, the children of Judah told Jeremiah he spoke falsely. Now here comes the action. They were determined to do things their way in spite of what Jeremiah (the voice of the Lord) told them to do. In Jeremiah 44:16-17, they told Jeremiah as for the word that he spoke to them in the name of the Lord, that they were not going to hearken to it. They were going to certainly do whatsoever thing that goeth forth out of their own mouth and so forth and so on.

Saints, how are we doing? Are we dissembling things in our hearts? Are we saying, "I'm going to obey this, but I'm not going to obey that - it doesn’t matter if God told me to do or not to do - I'm going to do whatever I want to do!" Watch our now! We had better be careful. What about our love for one another, being in unity with one another, our church attendance, the dress standard, gossiping, etc.? We need to repent of such things and get down to business with God before He allows evil to come upon us and afterwards destruction.

Whatever God has checked or corrected us on, we need to obey God and the ministry (the voice of the Lord). If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.

Be blessed!
Pastor Eddie Hodges, Jr.