Jeremiah 29:8-9 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.”

There is an old saying – if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Jeremiah knows the people in exile have been told by other “prophets” that their exile is temporarily and will be very short lived.  In this passage, the Lord tells his people they will be in exile for seventy years.  He tells them to build houses, get married, have kids... you are going to be here for a while.

We are like the exiled Israelites.  We like to hear good things.  We want to believe things that make us feel happy and disregard and hard truths that may come our way.  We want to hear the word of the Lord; we just want it to be nice.

Even when we are in a place of seeking truth, how do we know what is truth and what is lie?  We cannot always discern, on our own, who is false and who is true.  These false prophets are believed by many because they are very good at deception.  They may even believe what they say is true.

God says when we search for him, we will find him.  If we seek with our whole heart, he will let us find him.  Only when we do this will we know truth.

Lord,

I seek you and your truth.  Help me seek with my whole heart.  Remove distractions and deceptions from my vision and hearing so that I may see and hear you clearly.  I want to know you, I want to love you, and I want to serve you... only you.  Amen.