²⁰ After leaving the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe, they went to the king’s court and told him everything. ²¹ The king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he retrieved it from the room of Elishama the scribe. Then Jehudi read it to the king and all his royal officials who were standing next to the king. ²² Now it was the ninth month, and the king was staying in the winterized part of the palace with the firepot burning near him. ²³ And whenever Jehudi read three or four columns of the scroll, the king would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot until the whole scroll was burned up. ²⁴ Neither the king nor any of his attendants who heard all these words were alarmed or tore their clothes. ²⁵ Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he wouldn’t listen to them. (Jer. 36:20-24, CEB)

There are reactions to the word of the Lord… and there are REACTIONS to the word of the Lord. There are those times when the word of the Lord is given and we simply ignore it. This guy had such disdain for what Jeremiah was saying he shredded the document.

We all have tendencies to ignore the word of the Lord given to us. Then, there are times we act in some way that is, in essence, shredding the word given to us. We may not “like” the word given to us. We may think we’re in good shape (when we’re not) so the word given “offends” us. And we take some action that essentially lights a match to the word that was just given and we walk away.

We’ll look for a more “pleasant” word from some other source. We may just quit listening all together.

It’s not that there aren’t good words from the Lord. But when we’re in a place of correction we need the tough words. We’re just not willing to hear them.

Don’t shred the word of the Lord given to you. Don’t skip the tough passages in the Bible that “offend” you. Move through those words and have a heart that is open to actually hearing the word of the Lord.