Jeremiah 9:24 - Boasting in the Lord
 23 This is what the LORD says:
      “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
      or the strong man boast of his strength
      or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this:
      that he understands and knows me,
      that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
      justice and righteousness on earth,
      for in these I delight,”
      declares the LORD.
I am to boast, if I boast at all, that I understand God and know God. That is a boast that I generally stay away from. In other words, though I understand and know God, and I refrain from boasting it because I am imperfect and may not represent Him exactly accurately in all things. But this verse makes me think… if no one boasted that he knew God, then who would see that anyone knew God?
Previously in this chapter, the wailing women are told to come and wail for Israel. Previously, in Ecclesiastes 7:3 we saw that the the sorrowful are blessed, but for sorrow has a refining effect on us… clearly God desires to have a refining effect on Israel, and on us all, that all may boast of their understanding and knowledge of God. But so many people do not… they need refining, and so God gives them trials, tribulations, earthly punishment and correction, to cause them sorrow, that it might refine them, make them repent of their past, bring them to back to God’s fold because they have seen the error of their ways.
As Proverbs says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding; it is the beginning of knowledge. Therefore, the kind of boasting God is speaking of hear is not a self-righteous kind of boasting, but one that is rooted in our fear of Him… but not fear based in the anxious anticipation of our otherwise impending destruction. No. We are to have the kind of fear that is based in reverence, respect, gratefulness, and voluntary servitude.Â
Such fear is the beginning of knowledge, understanding…. and wisdom. And yet the wise man is not to boast of his wisdom, but of his knowledge and understanding of God. Or, more specifically, that he knows and understands… careful reading suggests that is not your understanding per se, but the fact that you have any; it is not your knowledge per se, but the fact that you any. Just knowing God to any degree and understanding Him at all is what you may boast about. Some will understanding Him more; some better; some deeper; but none are to boast on the degree of their knowledge and understanding… just that they understand. At all. Period.
Peculiar, huh? Well, He goes on. We are to boast, in our understanding and knowledge, that God is God, and we are to boast of what He delights in… kindness, justice, and righteousness… and these, strictly speaking, are not the same thing. As people we actually hate justice… because it means punishing those in sin… and we hate to see God punish, and so our nation is punishing less and less. And we hate righteousness when we see it, even while professing righteousness in ourselves. And we appear to hate kindness, or at least we hate kindness to the innocent who are caring for their families, as we take food and shelter from the their mouths, and give it instead to those do not provide it on their own. At least, that is what I see in our nation today… a nation that less and less fears the Lord, that — instead of sending out most skillful wailing women, to mourn and pray over us – calls God cruel, and excludes His followers from participating in our nation’s healing. And of that, we boast.