SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 5:1-19
OBSERVATION:
Had things gotten so bad that there was not even one honest person who was committed to truth in the city?
God is being amazingly patient, even willing to forgive the city for the sake of one honest person.
No matter how much God disciplines the people, they do not repent or change, neither the common poor nor the leaders (vv.3-5)
Their sin is described: worshiping other gods, immorality, ingratitude.
The prophets declare that God will not nothing, but they will regret their words (vv.12-14).
God is sending a foreign nation to defeat His people as punishment, but even so, He will not destroy them completely.
APPLICATION:
When we read this, do we tend to think bad of God for allowing these things to happen, or do we realize how perverse and immoral the people had become?
God is not unreasonable, but we tend to take Him for granted, assuming that He is a forgiving God while we’re not that bad afterall.
Do I minimize the seriousness of my sin? Am I guilty of taking God’s blessings for granted, but showing Him little regard or gratitude?
God wants to be merciful to us, He is amazingly patient with us – though we often are oblivious to how serious our sin is, and how great His patience is.
Are there prophets (preachers, teachers, leaders) who are saying that things are OK today when they are not?
PRAYER:
Lord, I confess that sometimes when I read these OT stories I minimize the sin of the people, and am critical of You for allowing suffering as judgment. Help me to see my sin as You see it, as serious as it is. And help me to appreciate how patient and merciful You are with me. Amen.
The people did what was right in their own eyes, (the refrain in the book of Judges), from the leaders of the people to the poorest of the people. Usually, as the leaders go, so go the people. They did not think that God would do His discipline. They made the Truth into a lie and served their own gods. Praise God for the verse which states “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely.”
I need to see the extent of my sin and daily ask God to forgive me. I need to realize how great my sins are and how merciful He is. As I start this day,
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever:
I will sing, I will sing.
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever:
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD.
With my mouth will I make known
Thy faithfulness, Thy faithfulness.
With my mouth will I make known
Thy faithfulness to all generations.