“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?” Jeremiah 8:12-19”
How could these verses from so long ago possibly relate to us today? Are they not about a rebellious people from another time? Or is there a warning in here for us? Is God speaking to us? To America? To the world?
Not only were the people in rebellion against God, worshiping false gods, living for themselves and not for Him, but they didn’t even feel bad about sinning against Him. Dishonoring God. Refusing to love, fear and revere, praise, adore the Lord God almighty in heaven. About refusing to live by His commands. No shame. Then they have the audacity to expect God to bless them. The land, their people, their lives are in peril because of their disobedience. Because they are living with their backs to God and their hearts and faces toward evil. They have caused God’s wrath, and their own destruction, yet refuse to take responsibility and remorsefully repent and turn to Him. Not just with a quick “I’m sorry God,” but with hearts and lives devoted to Him as Lord.
The prophet Jeremiah has the indescribably tough task of bringing God’s truth to them, of confronting them about their rebellion, of warning them, of bringing into light what they despicably desire to keep in the dark. Is the trouble, destruction, and demise of America, of this world, not a result of our own sins and refusal to turn back to God? According to the Lord, it most assuredly is. We are running out of time to repent and turn to Him. Let this be a warning for us all. Be courageous. Pass it on.