[StandingWatch, 2009, JAVanDevender]
Jeremiah 2:11 11 Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit.
It was back in October when I took this photo. I was on my morning walk (which I am desperately in need of starting up again) and all I had with me was a little point and shoot Nikon. The image is as stretched as it can be without the grain completely obscuring the content.
The big old Red-Tail (I think) was serene on his vantage point. The crow in the lower middle was no threat until he took flight. But from this point no field mouse was safe and the whole area was open to his view.
I don't think it too far removed to think of God in a similar fashion. Above and beyond history He sees it all, from beginning to end. It is open to His inspection and intervention as well as His guidance. His eye misses nothing... no tell tale movement in the grass escapes His notice no matter how well concealed the mouse thinks he may be.
The people of God had sinned... egregiously... continuously... without significant deviation for centuries. As God goes on to say in this chapter, it has not escaped His notice. Though they think that their secret idolatry is obscured by the magnitude of events happening all about them, though they think that God, if He cares at all, has to be more concerned with the manifest evil that exists in those other nations surrounding them: Egypt, Assyria, and now Babylon, yet, God sees all, hears all, is affected by all. God tells Jeremiah go speak to them and tell them... I know what's going on. I know what is in your heart.
Jeremiah relays the message God has given Him. Your sin is greater than that of Egypt, Assyria or Babylon. As barbaric as they are, as cruel and sensuous, as addicted to pleasure, as drunken as they remain, yet in this they are more righteous than you... they have not rejected THEIR gods... even if those gods are nothing but mute rock and timber. You, however, knew the one true God... you who had everything going for you have turned from Him. You have traded all your valuable gold for worthless tin. The people of God kept up the semblance of covenant with God... but their hearts were far from Him.
And so God says that He will repay. He will repay individually and He will repay corporately. He will bring the individual and the nation to their respective knees. Like the hawk swooping down from his perch, so God will descend with fury and He will sanctify His people through His wrath.
We need to be reminded of this. Our God is God of men and nations. He deals with each. A nation, such as ours, with a long history of Christian tradition, stands before God as more guilty than those who have never known Him. As individuals we have a responsibility, like Jeremiah, to proclaim the truth to our communities, to our cities, and to our nation, that we are far removed from being righteous and God is watching. As individuals we and our families may not escape the corporate chastening that God appears to be bringing to pass. As individuals we and our families need to inspect our own attitudes and practices to see where we stand in the face of our corporate guilt. Are we a force for good, standing against the tide? Or are we just one more piece of flotsam drifting along toward the sewer.
The stakes are high... it's a life or death question.
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