Thought for the Week

We have expressions with which we are familiar: i.e “History repeats itself” linked to “If we do not learn from our mistakes, we are bound to repeat them.” This is where Israel was. They were claiming the Covenant with God as a reason they would escape disaster. But the Covenant was two-sided. It did promise God’s blessings and protections. But it also said that if the people did not obey, they would be punished. Jeremiah reminds them nature can teach them some things. If a person slips off the path and falls down, he will get back up and onto the path. They have done this by slipping into temptation and idolatry. So, they need to resist temptations and idolatry and get back to the true worship of God. History can teach them some things: They were trusting in God’s House being there to provide God’s blessings and protections. Some almost 500 years before God’s House was in Shiloh. The two evil sons of Eli, the High Priest, took the Ark of the Covenant into battle to protect them. They were killed, the Ark taken captive by the enemy, and the words “The glory has departed,” were written above the Tabernacle. Jeremiah gives warnings about their wicked practices in the name of worship. They had even gone to “child-sacrifice” as the Moabites did for their god Molech. God warns, “Obey Me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you that it may go well with you.” (See Jeremiah 7:23). God is demanding a change of heart, a repentance, a turning back to Him in order for Him to provide the grace of forgiveness. He tells Jeremiah not to bother praying for these people. I expect that means not to pray for their protection, blessing, and deliverance. I also expect Jeremiah would be allowed to pray that they will turn back to God in true repentance. That brings us back to the verse that started this: Jeremiah 8:20: The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. If Israel can realize this they should be able to cry it out as a sincere desire to get back into a right relationship with God. The next verses are a personal word from Jeremiah, who is grieved for and with his people. He says he is crushed, he mourns, horror grips him, and he wishes he could weep and mourn even more. Frankly my friends, I see us, our churches, our society, our nation, our world in much the same condition as this Israel of old. What I fear is I do not see individuals or the church, serving as a Jeremiah, to plead God’s righteous cause, and give clear warnings, with strong tears and crying to this generation. We may be going through the motions of worship, we may claim good deeds, we may say we have the word of God (the Bible) in our homes but are we reading, studying, memorizing, and most importantly allowing it to influence and guide our lives? Does our worship line up with God’s requirements: “Love the Lord, as thy God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love/treat your neighbor as you yourself want to be treated, with honesty, fairness, courtesy and consideration and if he has a need that you can meet, do it.” It is God, and God alone, who can provide God’s blessings and protections. Nothing else can or will provide them. We MUST get back to God, or we will perish as Israel did.