Obey me, and I will be your God
Jeremiah 7:23 - Obeying God isn’t about complying with rituals, but aligning one’s heart with God’s will.
Jeremiah prophesying at the gates to the temple as people bring sacrifices to the altar Image generated by ChatGPT (OpenAI) using the DALL·E model.
“but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.”
Jeremiah 7:23 NIV
Jeremiah Chapter 7 begins with God issuing a command to the prophet — “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim this message”. God wants Jeremiah to tell all who are entering the temple to repent from the many sins they are committing. It’s a long list of trespasses: dealing with each other unjustly; oppressing foreigners, orphans, and widows; shedding innocent blood; following other Gods; stealing, murdering, committing perjury and adultery, and more!
The people of Judah are making offerings to God — the burnt, grain, peace, sin, and trespass offerings that were part of the rituals — and that’s why God had Jeremiah stand at the gates to the temple. There was an endless parade of people making offerings to God, but God really wants one thing from His people — their obedience.
The people were forgetting that obedience to God is more pleasing to Him than countless sacrifices made at the temple altar. We see elsewhere in the Bible, for example in 1 Samuel 15:22:
“But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
It’s another case of God’s people putting in more time and effort to mindless repetitive rituals than to obedience to their part of the covenant. That obedience was at the heart of the covenant relationship between God and Israel, involving not only hearing God’s voice, but responding to it. Many of the prayers found in the early Old Testament began with שָׁמַע (šāmaʿ, or shema), which is translated as “hear” and “obey”.
One of the key commandments of God is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Obeying God isn’t about complying with rituals, but aligning one’s heart with God’s will.
Doing so produces results: “I will be your God and you will be my people.” God wants both personal and communal (church) relationships with His people. He promised this in Leviticus 26:12 (“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people”) and Ezekiel 37:27 (“My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people,”) among other verses where God is codifying His covenant with Israel through prophets. His relationship with Israel set the nation apart from all others, and His relationship with Christians through the New Covenant made possible through the blood of Christ sets us apart from the rest of the world.
What does it mean to be God’s people in the present day? He has given us a special status as a chosen people and a royal priesthood (see 1 Peter 2:9). But there are responsibilities we must live up to as well — living according to God’s laws, and reflecting His character in all of our dealings with others.
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, repeats His message: “Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” Walking is a metaphor for an ongoing journey, in this case being faithful and obedient to God’s commandments through a righteous lifestyle.
Obeying God comes with benefits: The blessings He bestows on His people. Deuteronomy 28 set out the blessings of prosperity and well-being provided by God to those who obeyed Him, as well as the curses that would afflict those who blatantly disobeyed His commandments. God’s promise to His people isn’t strictly material, but also provides for a thriving spiritual life as well.
For modern-day Christians, obedience to God’s laws still results in blessings, as in the New Covenant those who believe will receive abundant life in Christ.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help us to hear and obey Your voice as You have commanded, so that we may walk in Your ways and experience the blessings You promise. AMEN.