Vanity

 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:16 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jer.23.16.ESV

Even nowadays, self proclaimed 'prophets' declare years of God's favour yearly, although they've been exposed as charlatans in the last few years. Covid and wars in Ukraine and elsewhere have burst the bubble of comfortable lives. As every year goes by without a private jet, people must surely get wise to false declarations!

Jeremiah was a realist, not an idealist who made up that everything was going to be okay when it wasn't. Judah was to be crushed by Babylon more severely than Ukraine by Russia presently. False promises of peace would have jarred with his hearers.

To be honest, no-one likes prophesies of doom. Jeremiah was unpopular. Yet he was truthful, and ultimately that was all that mattered.

Falsely positive people might be popular, yet in this broken and hurting world, their words fail to ring true. Jeremiah still pointed people to Jesus, the true source of hope and peace in the midst of the mess. Yet he refused to sugar coat his message.

'God of the angel armies, please help us to trust You to deliver us from this lost and dying world, and not to delude ourselves that everything's okay when it's not. In Christ's name, amen'

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