Jeremiah 8 -- Wishing You Were Dead?

I can’t imagine that anyone would want to hear this word from God:  “Those of this evil family who are not dead will wish they were!”

 

God tells Jeremiah that it makes no sense that the people won’t turn back to Him.  We have the good sense to get up if we fall down, or to retrace our steps if we discover that we’ve taken an incorrect turn, but these people sure won’t do that with their relationship with God!  “Those who think they are wise, but don’t listen to the Word of the Lord are not really wise at all.”

 

The people are acting this way because they are deceived.  The leaders weren’t correcting them but simply telling them what they wanted to here – they weren’t being real leaders at all.  The Lord had decided that the time was right for judgment.  They’d fled, wondering what had happened to God and why He wasn’t saving them.  But their disobedience and unfaithfulness was the root cause.  My commentary said, “They had missed their God-given opportunity and it would never come again.”

 

This caused Jeremiah to grieve, as it should each of us.  He said, “God, You are my comfort when I am very sad and when I am afraid … Because my people are crushed, I am crushed … Isn’t there balm in the land of Gilead?  Isn’t there a doctor there?”

 

I think God was probably crying about His people, too – as He cries for our nation today.

 

Father, turn us around.  You founded this great nation and we’ve allowed ourselves to become deceived.  We desperately need to turn back and take the right path.  Help us to do so now, a week from today.  Be sovereign over these elections, Father.  Show us that You can even control the minds of unbelievers and have them vote Your way rather than their own way.    Don’t let us miss a God-given opportunity that may never come again.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford