Exhortation Station

Jeremiah 22:13-16 —

“Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness
And his upper rooms without justice,
Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay
And does not give him his wages,
¹⁴ Who says, ‘I will build myself a roomy house
With spacious upper rooms,
And cut out its windows,
Paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red.’
¹⁵ “Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
¹⁶ “He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;
Then it was well.
Is not that what it means to know Me?”
Declares YHWH.

I love the way verse 15 starts. Yahweh asks the question, “Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?” Viewing the question through a secular lens, the answer might be obvious. “Certainly,” one might say, “the man who pulls ahead of his competitors is the man who prospers.” Yahweh has a different take. He says it is well with the man who does justice and righteousness, pleading the cause of the afflicted and needy.

It’s easy to view day-to-day life through secular eyes, relegating “God’s territory” to “spiritual activities” like prayer, fellowship, and Scripture-reading. But really, is there any facet of the human experience from which Yah’s hand is excluded? After all, “the earth is YHWH’s, and all it contains; the world, and those who dwell in it” (Psalm 24:1). It matters how we build our house; grow our business; pursue our goals. It matters what goals we are pursuing in the first place.

Psalm 127:1,2 — “Unless YHWH builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless YHWH guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. ² It is vain for you to rise up early; to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.”

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Before you go looking for that silver bullet to propel your ambitions to new heights, pause and remember to keep the main things the main things. Then it will be well. Then you will know Yahweh.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 — “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”

(Bible passages NASB 1995; Hebrew transl. added)