Jeremiah 27

Several years ago, I had a very interesting discussion with friends on my Facebook page over the issue of truth (or reality) versus feelings. Not surprisingly, this issue has continued to become more and more relevant, as the tyranny of feelings grows the longer you let them control you (instead of the other way around). In any event, the original conversation came about because of a statement made in a blog over the issue of Christians lining up at Chick-fil-A to buy chicken sandwiches. The author of the blog said, “Whether or not hate actually existed is not the point; people felt hated.”

Now, of course, nobody that I know wants to make anybody feel hated. And I think that’s what the author of this blog was capitalizing on, drawing the conclusion that in an effort to be loving, we should refrain from doing anything that makes anybody feel a certain way—whether or not those feelings are based on reality. But feelings are fickle, and at least in my experience as a woman, I can tell you that they are often unreliable! So, should we allow our feelings to define the reality of any given situation? If I feel cheated, does that mean I have actually been cheated? Maybe so. But maybe not.

Where should our primary concern lie? With reality? Or with feelings? Where does God’s primary concern lie?

This chapter of Jeremiah gives us a hint: “I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah. I said, ‘Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the Lord has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, “You will not serve the king of Babylon,” for they are prophesying lies to you. “I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. “They are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”‘” (vs 12-15)

In Jeremiah’s day, the people of Judah were in trouble. They had already been conquered by the Babylonians, but they were still living in their homeland. They hadn’t been forcibly carried into exile… yet. And, it appears from this chapter, they didn’t have to be carried into exile. Had they submitted themselves to the reality of their situation, they would have remained in their land.

But they would not submit. There were a bunch of false prophets in Judah contradicting the message of the Lord through Jeremiah. They were prophesying lies; however, they were lies that made the people feel good. They were popular lies that the people wanted to hear. No wonder they hated Jeremiah, when he came along preaching a sermon that made them feel bad! They didn’t want to submit. They wanted to fight! But, regardless of their feelings, the reality was that submission was the only way out of forcible exile.

Unfortunately, instead of listening to Jeremiah and considering the nature of reality, they followed their feelings instead and ended up in exile.

This is the dangerous path we travel when we begin to allow feelings to define reality instead of allowing reality to shape our feelings. I admit, this is difficult to do in a society that has been telling us for some time that we ought to just do what “feels right.” But how something feels is not always a reliable measure of whether it’s right.

Consider the example of Eve. Through her interaction with the serpent at the tree, Eve came to feel that she was missing out on something. Was that the truth? Was that reality? Were we to substitute Eve’s situation for the Chick-fil-A event, perhaps our blog author would have written, “Whether or not Eve was actually missing out on something is not the point; she felt like she was missing out on something.”

If Eve had taken some time to consider the reality of her situation, perhaps she would have allowed the truth to trump her feelings. Had she considered the Paradise where she lived with Adam and communed daily with God, perhaps her feeling that she was missing out on something might have changed. But when our feelings have been hurt or when they are shouting so loudly in our ear, it is so very difficult to consider any other viewpoint. So, I think we often act on our feelings.

Sometimes our feelings line up with reality and so acting on them is fine. But other times, as in the situation Jeremiah was addressing in this chapter of the Bible, acting on our feelings without considering the nature of reality is a very dangerous road to travel. That’s why I think God’s number one priority is to tell us the truth, to reveal the nature of reality, regardless of how it might make us feel.

I mean, when you think about it, what God asked “His people” to do in this situation—to serve the king of Babylon!—is incredible. I’m sure that request went against every nationalistic feeling the people of Judah ever had. But no matter what situation we find ourselves in, God is always seeking to reveal the nature of reality in that particular situation, and in this case, the reality was that the path to life was in submission, not rebellion.

So it may be prudent to remember—especially when our feelings don’t seem to line up with reality—that while we may not be able to trust our feelings, we can always trust God. He will always tell us the truth.