Jeremiah 23:18-40

“The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the LORD. Is not My word like a fire? says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:28–29, NKJV)

The nation of Judah was inundated with false prophets. They would all go around saying, “The oracle (burden) of the LORD; the oracle of the LORD.” But God told them to stop saying that. They were speaking the visions of their own mind rather than speaking for God. They said that God gave them a dream when in fact it was their own imagination. Therefore, God directed them back to His word.

Likewise, people today turn to many things other than the Bible. They desire something new and “interesting”. But the opinions of men are like chaff. They are blown away by the next wind of doctrine. They have no nutritive value, and they cannot save. How different is the wheat of God’s word! It feeds the spirit; it burns away sin; it breaks apart strongholds of pride, stubbornness and bitterness.

As in Jeremiah’s day, we are living in a time of great spiritual deception. People treat spirituality like a buffet. They take a little of this and a little of that, according to their own tastes. But the apostle Paul warned:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3–4, NKJV)

We must be increasingly watchful so that we are not deceived by smooth sounding words. We must keep our knees on the ground, our nose in the Bible, and our eyes on the throne of grace. We cannot live by mere physical food, but we must feed daily on the pure word of God. Then we will grow strong in the Lord and resist spiritual deception.