Jeremiah 9:12-16

12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through? 13 And the LORD said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”
Jeremiah 9:12-16 NKJV

Why does the land perish? Jeremiah asked that about his land and we can today ask why our land perishes. The LORD gives the answer and the wise will understand it. The LORD says the land perishes because we forsake His law and do not obey His voice. We follow the dictates and desires of our own hearts and worship false gods to our destruction. Worship of false gods and ignoring the law and voice of the true God is like eating and drinking poison. Wormwood and gall were poisonous plants found in Palestine, and eating and drinking them would have been as good for the people as the trusting in the false spiritual hopes of Baal and the other false gods that the people loved. They would be scattered until they were consumed. It is the same for me today. Should I choose to follow the dictates of my own heart and ignore the law and voice of God, I too will be eating and drinking bitter poison that leads to my destruction. Jesus died for my sins, he will heal me of the poison that I have eaten and that I have drunk. If I go and eat more poison and do not accept His healing, then I will die. Jesus wants to feed me the sweet food of His word and remove the bitterness of my selfishness from me, replacing the poison of following my own desires with the joy of following His paths. It is my choice, will I choose as the people did in Jeremiah's day and be scattered to destruction, or will I choose to walk in the healing and love of God, obeying His law and His voice?

Lord,
Help me today to choose to walk in Your law and listen and obey Your voice. Too often I think I can do everything on my own and handle all problems and temptations without You. When I choose to eat the poison of selfishness, I ask for Your healing. Replace the bitterness of the results of my bad decisions with peace and a desire to obey You in whatever path You lead me.