READING FOR JUNE 5, 2026: JEREMIAH 10, GALATIANS 1, PSALM 51:1-12
JEREMIAH 10 The opening of this chapter identifies that this message from God is targeted to the House of Israel—God's covenant people. God tells them not to embrace the diversity of world religions or philosophies about ultimate reality. Neither should they fear them, because they are just the constructs of fallen men. Thus, non-Christian beliefs today, such as atheism, astrology, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and others are not Godly but only human inventions— not to be embraced or feared by any. Verses 6-10 stress the preeminence of the God of Israel over all these false beliefs and practices throughout the world. They are only the work of skill- ful men, not another valid approach to God. They will perish, says verse 11. Verses 12-13 re- mind us of God’s almighty power and wisdom that formed the universe. Creation was not the result of random forces or non-Christian religions. Those who follow these other views of real- ity are without knowledge and deceived. We as believers in “the way, truth, and life” need to do all we can to lovingly guide those who deceive and are deceived to receive the true God.
Now that Jerusalem was experiencing the siege of the Babylonians, they are told to pack their bags and get ready to be slung out of the land. They will suffer short-term distress of 70 years of exile so that eventually they will get back to the Lord (i.e., be found). Jeremiah, though, doesn’t minimize the pain he will endure. He has lost his sons and his possessions. More broadly speaking, the nation had been let down by its leadership. As the Bible commands, let’s pray for national and spiritual leaders today. The failed leadership of Judah led to the then-upcoming Babylonian exile that God is causing. Such a failure can still be devastating today.
Jeremiah, speaking of His personal relationship with the Lord, reaffirms the sovereignty of God and seeks the just correction of God in his life without the full wrath of God. This is a prayer that all believers today can rightly pray. We need this guidance, even if it is painful. In the final verse, Jeremiah prays for an outpouring of wrath against those nations who have and will conquer Jacob (i.e., Israel). This writer agrees with Jeremiah that we as mere people should not perform acts of vengeance ourselves against people or peoples, but allow God to make such judgments: “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). This writer also believes that after the cross, believers should not primarily oppose people but forces of spiritual evil: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
GALATIANS 1 If one looks at the greetings in Paul’s letters to the other churches, even to the sinful church at Corinth, he typically spends at least nine verses and up to half the first chapter expressing introductory niceties. He leaves all that out here and jumps to his urgent concern. It comes gushing forth in a torrent of emotion. Why is he so upset? They got the Gospel wrong! Their particular error will be evident in subsequent chapters, but Paul wants them and us to READING FOR JUNE 5, 2026 CONTINUED: GALATIANS 1, PSALM 51:1-12 know that we cannot get this wrong.
In fact, if somehow Paul or an angel from heaven visits us at Yorktown Methodist Church preaching a different Gospel from what we have in the Bible, Paul says we should curse them (vs.8), meaning condemn them to Hell. To make sure we take him seriously, he repeats this admonition right away (vs. 9). We must make sure that any teacher, minister, or perspective pastor is clear about this. It should be the first question from any pastoral search committee and for anyone seeking membership or church leadership. WE MUST ALL UNDERSTAND AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. It alone rescues us from evil (vs.4).
Paul then explains why his past preaching of the Gospel to them was accurate. He received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ (vs 12), not through any secondary human source. He goes on to say his immediate and dramatic change from being the persecutor of the church to the preeminent preacher to the Gentiles shows that this could only be accomplished by God’s grace alone, not through human instruction, even by the other apostles. They didn’t influence the change; they only verified the change: “They were glorifying God because of me” (vs. 24).
PSALM 51:1-12 As part of our communion service, we often read one of the confessional prayers at the beginning of our hymnal. They are good prayers, but they fail to reach the grandeur of God’s attributes, depth of personal remorse, passion for inner renewal, and desperation for spiritual relationship as found in this epic confessional prayer by David.
God’s Attributes. It is only because of God’s limitless grace (greater than our sins-Rom 5:20-21) and faithfulness (always new and great-Lam. 3:23) that David or we have any reason to ask for forgiveness. We know whatever God decides will be perfect judgment and that He alone has the ability and compassion to give us inner purity and joy, no matter what our sins have been. There is always reason to hope because of God.
Personal Remorse. We should never minimize our sins by thinking, “That’s OK; it doesn’t matter.” We need to continually be aware of their gravity. Even though we may have terribly wronged someone else, by comparison, it is only the holy God we have sinned against. We must remember that we were born with a sin nature and constantly need God’s sustaining spirit. We cannot avoid sin in our strength alone.
Passion for Renewal. David anticipates the complete inner cleansing from sin made possible by Jesus on the cross: “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). He also anticipates a newness of heart possible when we are saved: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).
Desperate for Relationship. When David became King, he received much more than a crown: “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came on David from that day forward” (1 Sam. 16:13). He feared losing this relationship (vs.11). As believers in Jesus, we all have this relationship: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16).
