Biases

“They are just the poor … they don’t understand the way of the LORD … I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD … However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.”—Jeremiah 5:4–6 CSB

At first, Jeremiah thought that the problem was with the common people (“the poor”). He had delivered God’s warnings to them, but they had not responded. Perhaps, he wondered, they just didn’t know enough about God and His Word. Perhaps they did not have the necessary background or education.

Jeremiah concluded that the response would be different if he spoke to the elite people of the society instead: leaders and scholars, those who were highly educated. The people who, he might have thought, were more intelligent and receptive to messages from God. But Jeremiah was wrong. He discovered that his biases were wrong. In fact, regardless of their backgrounds, all the people responded in the same way: no one received the word of the Lord.

We all can be like Jeremiah, jumping to conclusions based on appearances. We tend to make assumptions based on what seems to be true from our subjective perspective. Jeremiah learned that people can reject (or accept) God no matter their station in life.

We need to remember that God has a completely different perspective. As He told the prophet Samuel, “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV). Be careful before forming opinions of others just because of their circumstances. Ask God for discernment. Seek His wisdom. Always remember that He sees things differently than you do.

Reflection Question: What happens when you make snap judgments?