LEARNING DAILY
Jeremiah 6:15, “Are
they ashamed when they do these disgusting things? No, not at all – they don’t
even blush! Therefore, they will lie among
the slaughtered. They will be humbled
beneath my punishing anger,” says the Lord. (NLT)
The prophet
Jeremiah is prophetically telling the people of Jerusalem that if they did not
repent of their idolatry and sinful ways God was going to no longer withhold
His anger. Jeremiah told the city was
going to be attacked from the north and the people were going to be taken captive
because of the horrible things being done by the people. Here is what Jeremiah said in chapter 4,
verses 30-31, “An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the
land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power;
and My people love to have it so. But
what will you do in the end?” God was not happy and He was about to bring
an end to what the people were doing by the siege and fall of Jerusalem.
I am using some
study notes on Jeremiah written by a former Head of Schools and friend Bill
Smith. Here is what he wrote about this.
“Jeremiah’s words should have stuck terror in the hearts of those in Jerusalem.
Instead, they fell on deaf ears.” He
later wrote, “A nation is doomed for destruction when its people no longer feel
shame for their sin and when rebellious leaders prefer to satisfy people with
words of false hope and assurance.” Those words were written in response to the
verse above.
Wow! This could be written in response to what we
are seeing in our nation and around the world today. Remember all the promises made to solve all problems
we have just the a few short months ago; think about where we are now. Not all will agree with me, but think of
those in leadership who desire the legalization of abortion, yet, pride
themselves on their religious beliefs, for example. Then go to God’s Word and understand what God
says. Consider what our leaders and our
preachers today are saying that is in contrast to God’s Word. Then tell me how we, today, are different
from the people living in Jerusalem at the time when Jeremiah was prophesying! Then
consider the people who “love to have it so”. Like the people of Jeremiah’s time too many
people have placed their faith in going to church where a feel-good message is
preached but do not place their faith in God. Notes in the DJSB tell us that Jeremiah
spoke to “the hypocrisy of God’s people in thinking they could be thoroughly
pagan in every aspect of their lives and then pretend to come worthily into God’s
house. Bill Smith wrote, “All rituals
and superficial acts of ‘righteousness’ are useless if our relationship with
God is wrong.”
Am I wrong to
think that this could be written of the society we live in today? If I am
right, what do you and I do? I have to
begin with examining my own life. There
are certainly things I must confess to the Father in heaven, ask for His
forgiveness, and stop doing them. I am
not alone, am I? It is time for God’s people, His Church to be His Church and
stop being like the world! God told Jeremiah several times not to pray for
these people because He would not hear him; it was too late for them. That is a people who have gone far away from
the narrow way to God’s kingdom. May it
never be said of us and the rest of God’s people.
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