Jeremiah 8:8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
When I was five or six years old I remember struggling with reading. I remember my parents basically securing a teacher to help me learn how to read my kindergarten book. Later, I remember trying to learn how to count money. I had little cardboard cutouts that were little nickels, dimes, and quarters, but I just couldn’t get it in my head that a nickel would be bigger than a dime even though a dime is worth twice as much as a nickel. It didn’t make sense to me. I remember trying to learn how to tell time on a traditional watch. That was a struggle.
All of us can probably think of classes in our life that seemed to be useless. I remember a friend in college saying, “Why do I need to take this class? I’m not learning to be a history teacher. I’m learning to be a preacher.” Well, preachers should know something too, but the bottom line is that sometimes their classes were a waste. There is a joke in our house about algebra. I’ll say something like, “Well, kids, you will use algebra every day of your life. I use algebra to make my coffee in the morning.” I’m being facetious. I don’t use algebra. I’m sure someone does, but it is kind of discouraging to think you’ve spend a lot of time or money on something that is not useful.
Now, if you have wasted a class or lesson in your life it is for one of two reasons. Either what you have learned is irrelevant, has no connection whatever with life as it is, or it is unused. That is the case of God’s people when God says in Jeremiah 8:8, “How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.” Did God write His Word for nothing? Was God’s Word vain? No, His Word was useful, but they were not used.
Verse 9 says, “The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?” What kind of wisdom do these guys have that they can’t come in out of the rain? This lack of wisdom was intentional. There are words like “chosen,” “refuse,” and “rejected.” You see, it doesn’t matter what you know if you won’t act on it. Those classes that were a waste are either because they don’t really matter across the board or because you haven’t used them.
It may be that you know a lot of Bible, but what good is it if you are not using it? What good is the kind of wisdom that someone foolish has? It is useless. It is like a bird stuck in the snow. God says that a bird knows the time to fly south for the winter. So, if you see a bird shivering in the cold, it is because he is not acting on the instinct he has, the knowledge that is ingrained within his very being. Friend, doing right is not instinctive, but we have the Word of God. A person who doesn’t act on what he knows is like a bird that is stuck in the snow when he should be going south.
God said, “Birds know when to return, but my people don’t.” They were about to be separated from Jerusalem, but they didn’t realize they had already been separated from God. They didn’t need to return to their homeland. They needed to return to God. “It is like a horse,” God goes on to say, “charging destruction.” He is unthinking, unyielding, unheeding, just charging into the mouth of the cannon.
Here at the Bill Rice Ranch we have a rodeo on most camp weeks. We have sack races, pig chases and a tug of war. We don’t have any rough stock events. My grandfather used to say, “Any similarity between this and a real rodeo is purely coincidental.” Our rodeo is western and a lot of fun. We have a grand entry with horses and riders bringing in flags. Well, before we charge into the arena, my horse is just prancing and trying to get loose. He doesn’t want to listen. We are sometimes like that, charging toward destruction, not listening. It doesn’t matter what you know if you won’t act on it.
It is like a smoker who won’t get well. Jeremiah is not talking about smokers, but he is alluding to people who literally don’t know why they are not doing well. They say, “Isn’t there balm in Gilead?” Gilead was known for a particular herb and the medicine that came from it. In consequence, a number of physicians took residence in GiIead, but no medicine Israel had could save or salve a rebellious heart. It is a smoker who won’t get well. He wants to get better and he is smoking as he wonders why he can’t breathe clearly.
Someone who knows the truth but won’t act on it is just as bad as someone who doesn’t know the truth at all. The Bible says that God’s Word will not return to Him void. So, God’s Word is not vain, empty, or irrelevant, but it is unused. In James it says, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” You can be a doer or a hearer, and you can be deceived. What good is it to look into a mirror if I see something that needs to change, but I change nothing? It is the same as a person who knows the truth of the Word of God but will not act on it.
Sometimes we worry about things we can’t change when our time would be much better spent acting on what we know and seeing our knowledge and comprehension expand as we obey. What is the one thing today that you know what to do but are just not doing it? Stop worrying about what you can’t do. Start acting on what you should do and God will bless because it doesn’t matter what you know if you won’t act on it.