Don't Be Dismayed: God is Greater Than Our Worries

In Jeremiah chapter 10, we see people worrying about events around them, much like we might worry about news headlines, online chatter, or what our friends are telling us. Topics like artificial intelligence or wars in the Middle East can easily stir up anxiety today. Back in Jeremiah's time, the feeling was much the same.

Don't Learn the Way of the Heathen

Jeremiah 10:2 tells us, "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them." People around us, those who don't have faith in God, will naturally be dismayed and frightened by various signs. Whether it's today's scientific forecasting, like fund managers predicting money markets, or the superstitions of Jeremiah's era, the lesson from God is clear: these things are meaningless and vain.

The Vanity of Idols

Jeremiah 10:3 continues, "For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe." They then decorate it "with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not" Jeremiah 10:4. But here's the crucial point: "Be not afraid of them" Jeremiah 10:5. These idols, made from gold and silver, "cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good" Jeremiah 10:5.

No matter what mankind makes, no matter what forecasts people around us concoct, and no matter how news articles try to worry us, we do not need to be afraid. Jeremiah 10 gives us the powerful reason why.

God's Greatness vs. Human Folly

"Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might." Jeremiah 10:6

Just as those idols can't do anything, the chapter compares them with God, who is truly mighty. Comparing the people and their idols, verse 8 states, "But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities." In stark contrast, when we look at God, "He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion" Jeremiah 10:12.

Even those around us who we consider well-educated, intelligent, and capable of forecasting the future – if they do not have faith in God, their knowledge is still brutish compared to God's. Verse 15 declares, "They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish." Mankind is mortal and limited; we will perish. But God will endure.

The Former of All Things

I want to conclude with verse 16 because there's a very interesting link here: "The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things." The "portion of Jacob" refers to the God of Jacob, but what does it mean that God is "the former of all things"? Well, if we look back to Genesis 2:7, we read, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." This is the almighty God who actually formed man himself!

So, when a person believes there is no God, or bows down to idols (or, in a modern analogy, believes their own knowledge is greater than God's and creates theories that might worry us), the Lord God is essentially saying, "Actually, I formed you." Who then, should we listen to? Mankind, who perishes, or God, who formed humanity in the first place?