Grief touches each of us eventually. [1] Though we know we will experience grief as individuals, we sometimes need to be reminded that grief will consume the nation that turns from righteousness while embracing wickedness. Some might suppose that Christians will gloat when judgement at last comes on those who have been warned of the judgement that lies before them. Christians, those who know the Lord God, those who are twice-born children of Heaven, can never exult when judgement comes to a nation. Those who walk with the Risen Saviour will feel more keenly than any others the pain that attends divine judgement on the nation in which they live.
The future of our culture, the future of modern society, will be a return to the past. The path by which our culture returns will lead either to a past that is marked by Christian consciousness and the centrality of godly morality, or it will lead to the pagan past in which all cultures have darkened roots. Europe is an example of the scope of history that is ignored in this day.
We tend to forget the paganism that characterised our European ancestors when power was the central purpose of societies, just as acquiring power over others was the primary goal for all individuals. All people were but cogs in the wheels of the machinery as societies ensured that only the powerful had a measure of freedom, and most people existed to serve the powerful. Violence and subjugation were the rule for societies throughout the European continent, as was also true for almost the entire world.
At last, a few bold missionaries challenged those darkened societies to know that there is One True God, and that God is Creator of all that is. He gave man his being and appointed him as responsible to reign over the creation with confidence and with care for all that God had made. These first missionaries ventured into the realms of darkness with the light of Christ, doing so at the risk of their own lives. The message they brought conquered the pagan gods that kept the people in darkness and in chains of fear, setting the peoples at liberty so they would be free as the Creator intended.
Free from the cruel bondage of the past, the people of Europe unleashed the spirit of creativity, the spirit that encourages man to think the deep thoughts of God after Him, the spirit of freedom and dignity for each man. Slavery that had once been the mark of all civilizations was abolished as the concept of freedom and dignity began to infiltrate the thinking of all. It was the prevalence of righteousness, the prevalence of the Faith of God that ensured that European culture would dominate all other cultures. It was not race, but it was righteousness, which made European culture great.
That nascent culture of righteousness was transported to the shores of the New World, ensuring that Canada and the United States would become great, based as these nations were on a faith that God created man, giving all people the rights and freedoms that God alone can give. We appear to have forgotten that no parliament, no congress, no government can give anyone life, liberty, or the freedom to become whatever one should seek to become. God alone gives mankind these freedoms, and the societies free men form reflect these freedoms as the righteous culture protects those forming that society.
Much as was true of Judah in the days leading to their conquest by the Babylonians, over the past century Europeans, people who were once free have turned from righteousness and have increasingly become pagan in their outlook. It is not that they are worshipping idols, though that does no doubt happen, it is that the people have begun to pursue power solely for the sake of power. And that trend which is so evident throughout Europe is equally true of the nations of North America. Certainly, that is true of the elite of Canada and the United States. And the attitude of seeking power for the sake of power itself filters down to the remainder of society so that even if not seeking to acquire power themselves, the people living in these nations have become tolerant of those elites who do seek power.
Rejecting who they were as a nation created by God, the nations, and the people themselves have begun to pursue new identities, each one demanding that all others accept their self-chosen identities and accompanying changes. These strange, new minorities are intent on compelling others to comply with their novel morality. Violence has begun to be elevated over reason as mobs strive to force compliance with the novel civic morality, even when that new civic morality supplants godliness. Whether Canadian culture realises what is happening or whether we are merely irritated by the social currents swirling about us, an evil is settling over our culture, an evil characterised by the pursuit of power.
When God could no longer tolerate the wickedness that had become the hallmark of the society crafted by His ancient people, He sent a conqueror to overthrow the nation. And the overthrow Israel suffered was at the hands of an enemy so violent, so terrifying, that even God’s prophet cried out in despair! The LORD God warned,
“Behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.”
[HABAKKUK 1:6-7]
Witnessing what was about to come upon the nation, the Prophet Habakkuk cried out in astonishment and in terror,
“Are you not from everlasting,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?”
[HABAKKUK 1:12-13]
Who could believe that God would permit—nay, employ such violence to discipline those who had once been His own blessed people called by His Name! The thought was unbelievable for the man of God! But he had forgotten that God is not beholden to anyone, not even those who have enjoyed His rich blessings and the closest imaginable intimacy with Him.
In effect, Habakkuk was remonstrating with the Lord that the judgement was too severe, too dreadful, too terrible. He was arguing that surely God could not use such evil, cruel people as a means of judgement! But the judgement God sent was certain and there was no escape for those who had embraced the exaltation of power.
The overthrow of that ancient society was dreadful, leaving even the righteous within that society stunned and in grief. In the same way, we must not imagine that the Living God will ignore the growing evil embraced by the culture in which we now live. Marked as it is by the worship of power, God will shortly surrender this society to destruction, for the Living God will not tolerate man’s pursuit of power since it is a vain effort to displace God. And when at last the Lord does put a stop to our mad pursuit of power,, the downfall of this society will grieve not only the wicked who will pay a horrible price, but the downfall of this society will grieve the people of God as we witness the judgement He sends upon us. Like Jeremiah, we will lament what has happened because we will grieve over the lost opportunities to turn to righteousness.
SHADES OF GRIEF —
“How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.
“She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:1-2]
As Jeremiah begins this lament, he surveys the city that had once bustled with people. The streets had been filled with men and women rushing to perform their daily tasks. Everything was so ordinary. Those who conducted commerce were rushing to set up their stalls and to spread out their goods they had for sale. Wives hurried to get water for the families, hoping to have a few moments for pleasant conversation with other wives. Men went about their duties, while judges took their places in the gate where they would hear the complaints brought to them. Children played their raucous games in the streets. It was all so pedestrian, so normal, so routine.
Everything had changed in a moment of time! The Babylonian army had appeared—one moment the fields outside the walls were empty, the next moment the city was surrounded. The battle raged for days, the situation growing more desperate as food and water became at first scarce and then unavailable. At last, the wall was breeched and the enemy was inside the walls.
Zedekiah, the king, attempted to escape, but he was quickly captured, chained, and hauled before the king of Babylon where sentence for his rebellion would be pronounced. Zedekiah’s sons were dragged in front of the chained king where they were slaughtered. To ensure that this would be the last thing the forlorn king ever saw, his eyes were gouged out. After this indignity, he was dragged away in chains to spend his remaining days in a miserable Babylonian prison. The officials of Judah were all killed. The walls of the city were broken down. The Temple of the LORD was burned and everything of value was loaded onto carts to be hauled away. Anyone who had been someone was either killed or bound in chains as they began the long, humiliating trek into slavery in a foreign land.
The only people left in the city were the poor, those who had little stature in the eyes of anyone left in the world. Old men and elderly women were openly mocked by the conquerors; they were shoved aside as the soldiers pushed past them. Boys were killed and their bodies left to rot in the streets. Young woman was brutalised—they had become playthings to be used and abused at will of the rude soldiers. Women were reduced to attempting to sell themselves just to have money to buy food for their children. There was no respect displayed as the once proud Jews were delivered into the hands of people more vile than they could have ever imagined.
Now, Jeremiah looked upon the empty streets—streets littered with the detritus of the devastated peoples, bodies here and there and a few old men and a handful of young women, their vacant eyes masking the pain and shock they had experienced. This is what Jeremiah sees as he began writing, his pen moving at the direction of the Spirit of God.
“How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:1
Israel’s allies were never her friends. Israel had always held a superior attitude. She wasn’t like Ammon, or Moab, or Edom, she was superior in every way … until she wasn’t. Her pride had ensured that these nations would laugh when Israel was at last cast down. Later, a Psalm would memorialise the attitude of those nations, stating,
“Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
They said, ‘Tear it down, tear it down,
right to its very foundation!’”
[PSALM 137:7 NET BIBLE, 2nd]
This was what the Prophet meant when he wrote,
“[Jerusalem] weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:2]
Later in these opening verses, Jeremiah would again reference the manner in which her neighbours rejoiced in her misery.
“Zion stretches out her hands,
but there is none to comfort her;
the LORD has commanded against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his foes;
Jerusalem has become
a filthy thing among them.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:17]
Again, Jeremiah would mourn,
“I called to my lovers,
but they deceived me.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:19a]
How did this happen? What had Israel done that invited such divine retribution? While multiple evils had become entrenched in the nation, Jeremiah names one particular evil that brought down God’s wrath on the nation. Understanding what that one grave evil was gives insight into the peril in which the nations of Canada and the United States now stand. Here is Jeremiah’s warning as provided in his prophetic writings. “The LORD said to me, ‘Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! And when they ask you, “Where shall we go?” you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD:
‘“Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those who are for the sword, to the sword;
those who are for famine, to famine,
and those who are for captivity, to captivity.”
I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.
‘Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
or who will grieve for you?
Who will turn aside
to ask about your welfare?
You have rejected me, declares the LORD;
you keep going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
I am weary of relenting.
I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork
in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
they did not turn from their ways.
I have made their widows more in number
than the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of young men
a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
fall upon them suddenly.
She who bore seven has grown feeble;
she has fainted away;
her sun went down while it was yet day;
she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
before their enemies,
declares the LORD.’”
[JEREMIAH 15:1-9]
Manasseh did turn back to the Lord. We read in the Chronicles of Israel, “The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God” [2 CHRONICLES 33:10-13].
And Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson, was one of the godlier kings of Judah. However, by the time he had come to the throne, it was too late—the rot was too deep. Manasseh’s repentance was too late—he had already set in motion the decline of the land. Degeneracy was thoroughly integrated into the culture, and ignorance of God and righteousness marked the whole of society. Thus, Jeremiah’s dark word that would be fulfilled within a few short years of pronouncing what God would do. “I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem” [JEREMIAH 15:4]. We must remember that history is a process, not an event. The people of Israel had been drifting away from righteousness and embracing wickedness for decades before God said, “Enough.”
The United States and Canada have moved steadily away from promoting godliness for decades. The degradation that marks our nations didn’t happen overnight. The current condition of North American culture—the moral turpitude, the exaltation of violence, the hedonistic worship of sex, drugs, and debauchery didn’t just happen. Today, citizens of these two cultures are able to make their own god, making that god into whatever they desire that god to be. The transition took time, and the debasement of the education system, the transformation of media to exalt the vilest aspects of human degeneracy as a form of entertainment, reducing government to a means to enrich the least worthy among us while imposing ever greater restrictions on the freedoms of citizens required us to permit these changes to occur. Even many of the churches have pushed this degradation, their leaders no longer knowing what the mind of the Lord is. And the question each follower of the Risen Lord should be asking must be, “How long until God says, ‘Enough!’” How long until there is no turning back for us?
Here is the point that we must not ignore—God does watch over nations, holding them to account. Has not the Psalmist informed us,
“The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
Higgaion. Selah
“The wicked shall return to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.”
[PSALM 9:15-17]
God does reign. He does see the actions of the nations. He does hold all mankind responsible for how they live. He is holy and He is just. Because this is true, we must never presume against God. If He held His ancient people to account for the sinful lifestyle they embraced, how much more will He hold us to account in this day!
SIN’S FRUIT — You may have read a stunning statement that speaks of the fruit that is harvested through sin that was penned by the Wise Man. That statement says,
“Good sense wins favor,
but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.”
[PROVERBS 13:15]
In the verses following those opening words of this lament, the man of God begins to detail the sorrow that now marked the nation. And throughout the remainder of this sad lament he will speak repeatedly of the pain all the people were feeling. Here, he speaks of their exile. The nation would be sent into captivity in a foreign land, kept from seeing their homeland for decades. Even those who were not exiled would flee to other countries in a vain attempt to find refuge, but their search for rest would be denied. The nation could no longer keep the holy days; there would be no joyous festivals, no times of national celebration.
Save for a handful that escaped being sent into captivity, her priests are gone, sent away into captivity, or killed by the sword,. Her virgins have been dragged away to an uncertain and unenviable fate. Her few surviving children are captives, carried away to serve as slaves to a brutal, unsympathetic enemy. There remains no majesty for her, no reason to thank the LORD. Those who remain know constant misery and deepest sorrow. Both captives and survivors are treated as filth before those who have conquered them. The sin of the nation continually rises up to taunt those who are left in the land. Every attempt at prayer ends in futility. There is no consolation for any of the survivors.
As we read the fifth verse, for the first time we are told the reason all this sorrow had fallen on Israel. The text reads,
“[Zion’s] foes have become the head;
her enemies prosper,
because the LORD has afflicted her
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:5]
All the sorrow, all the devastation, was from the hand of the LORD. Israel’s conquest by the Chaldeans was because of her multitude of transgressions against the LORD. Zion had sinned, neglected to honour the LORD, and this was the reason that she had been delivered into the hands of the brutal, vicious enemy. In this verse, we are reading a dark confession that we will encounter again as we continue moving through the book.
We will do well to memorise that stunning verse written by the Apostle to the Gentiles: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” [ROMANS 6:23]. It holds true in so many ways both for us as individuals and for nations. Sin brings separation from God. It is high time that our nation and the leaders who govern us became convinced of the warning delivered by Isaiah when he wrote,
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.”
[ISAIAH 59:1-2]
You will no doubt remember the dark condemnation that follows as the Prophet becomes quite specific in detailing the sinful acts and attitudes that had become commonplace throughout Israelite society in that day. And if the detailed recitation of what the land had become was not awful enough, the Prophet, speaking on behalf of the LORD, then pointed to the terrifying results that came because the evil was accepted, was tolerated, even by those who were otherwise righteous. Focus on the closing verses of this dark chapter as Isaiah speaks of the cost of sin within that ancient society. Understand that the consequences of our sin bring upon us the same separation from the Lord.
“Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
We all growl like bears;
we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the LORD,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.”
[ISAIAH 59:9-13]
I must take note of something that is written in the ninth verse of our text:
“Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
therefore her fall is terrible;
she has no comforter.
‘O LORD, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!’”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:9]
Take special note of the first strophe. Israel was recognised as God’s beloved people. Her special position had been recognised even by the pagans in the nations nearby. They recognised the fact that she was separated unto God. Her separateness was her honour. Because she was distinctive, because she was holy, even the wicked nations about her recognised her separation to the LORD. But now the world could see that she had tried to become just like them, and when her fall came, everyone turned away in horror. She tried to be like the world, and the cost was greater than she could have imagined.
It is not as if God’s people were ignorant of their responsibility to be holy. The prophets had repeatedly warned them to be righteous and to be holy. Nevertheless, “Her uncleanness was in her skirts, she took no thought of her future.” This exposure was open so that everyone could see what she had become. It was an example of the warning delivered many years before when Moses wrote, “If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end” [DEUTERONOMY 32:29]!
When a congregation, or when a denomination for that matter, attempts to be like the world in a false hope that they can attract those of world, God will exact a terrible price as He exposes their perfidy. And when a nation turns from being righteous, God will deliver them into the hands of those who hate them to reveal that He is not party to their wickedness. Surely, this is the impact of the words of the Wise Man:
“Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a disgrace to any people.”
[PROVERBS 14:34 NET 2nd]
The righteous trying to become like the world, or even playing at being like the world, is one of the most pathetic sights in the world; and God will not tolerate such efforts.
Focus your attention again on what is written to fully grasp that nations are not just suddenly conquered; nations are given into the hands of those who hate them. This is especially true for nations that present themselves as righteous. The nation that presents herself as a nation that follows the True and Living God enjoys a relationship that provides protection from the wicked about her. This is the position taken when the Psalmist writes,
“I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
[PSALM 20:6-7]
God is in the business of protecting those who look to Him. It is not that a nation must ignore self-defence, but the priority for protection is still the Lord God!
This is a truth that national leaders do well to learn. Those elected to lead us need to consider whether they trust in the armaments amassed, or whether they are looking to the protection God alone can give. Solomon wrote,
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but the victory belongs to the LORD.”
[PROVERBS 21:31]
This is the same warning delivered by the court prophet, Isaiah, who has written,
“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the LORD!”
[ISAIAH 31:1]
Let these solemn words serve to warn each one who hears this message that when a nation forgets the Lord Who has blessed her so richly, we must not imagine that God will continue protecting that nation, ignoring her sinful behaviour. Should that nation begin to practise evil, begin to tolerate wickedness, begin to speak, or act in a manner that dishonours God, we may be assured that the Lord is under no obligation to that wicked nation. He will desert the wicked nation into the hands of those who hate her. And there are always nations that are envious of the nation which God has blessed, and these lesser nations will rejoice in the downfall of those who were once righteous and godly. That is what had happened to Israel immediately before Jeremiah’s lament was penned.
ZION REMEMBERS —You will no doubt recall the story told of a rich man and a poor man. Refresh your memories by reviewing the story as Jesus told it. Of course, the story Jesus told is found in Luke’s Gospel. “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead’” [LUKE 16:19-31].
I bring up this story Jesus told to point to what I consider to be one of the harshest aspects of judgement—memory. The rich man lived with no thought of the future, no thought of what lies beyond this moment we call now. The day came when the inevitable occurs, and death struck down the man who had lived in luxury and having isolated himself from the unpleasantness of those who knew want. It is the words that Abraham spoke when the rich man pleaded to have Lazarus provide even a brief moment of relief from the torment the rich man was experiencing. Abraham declined the request, pointing out that even were he inclined to grant what this man requested, it would be an impossibility due to a great chasm separating Paradise from Hades. However, even before pointing out the gulf God had designed, Abraham said “Child, remember…”
Undoubtedly, one of the most dreadful aspects of Hell is memory. Those incarcerated in that foul hold will remember every opportunity to have avoided that destination. They will recall every pleasure that is now denied them. They will remember every kindness advanced by the Lord, kindness that was meant to draw them to accept the mercies He offered. And the knowledge of their loss will be intensified.
Something of that nature was marking the people of Israel after the Babylonians had conquered them. They remembered what was lost, and the memory only intensified the sorrow they were experiencing. Jeremiah notes,
“Jerusalem remembers
in the days of her affliction and wandering
all the precious things
that were hers from days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was none to help her,
her foes gloated over her;
they mocked at her downfall.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:7]
After God has intervened in our life, we remember every time we spurned His call to do what is right. The opportunities to obey that we missed continually rise up to condemn us. After He has held us to account, we cannot help bur recall every instance when we pursued our own desires while failing to do what we knew to be His will for our life. After we are disciplined, we vividly recall His goodness, for it ever stands in contrast to our own rebellious choices. Somehow, the excuses we made for why we were choosing what was evil seem to rise up before our eyes to mock us. How painful our memories are in such cases. How much worse will the memory be if we go out into eternity without ever receiving the forgiveness of our own sinful condition! How much worse will it be for us to remember the squandered opportunities if we are separated eternally from the love of God and from the mercies He extends to us through the Son of God at this time.
Zion is deeply grieved as God delivers them into the hands of their tormentors. Thus, the Prophet, speaking for the people, writes,
“Look, O LORD, for I am in distress;
my stomach churns;
my heart is wrung within me,
because I have been very rebellious.
In the street the sword bereaves;
in the house it is like death.”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:20]
Again, the writer confesses that the reason for his lament is that he has been rebellious. In that original language, the sentence, “I have been very rebellious” includes two forms of the same verb. This is done for emphasis. The writer, speaking on behalf of the nation, is saying something like, “Rebelling, I rebelled.” It comes out in our English tongue as “I have been very rebellious.” It is a recognition of the condition of the people that brought down upon them God’s judgement.
And of course, there is no possibility of God lessening the punishment if we will not confess our sin. This is the thrust of the divine promise we read in John’s First Letter when the Apostle of Love writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” [1 JOHN 1:9].
I must turn again to this business of remembering. Of course, memory can be painful when we remember our failings. However, remembering the goodness of God can lead His people to long to return to what they once had. There is truth in the adage, “You don’t know what you have, until you lose it.” However, there can be comfort in knowing what was lost. If there was sweet fellowship before, then there is hope it can be restored. Israel would not be bereft of comfort so long as there was the possibility of restoring fellowship with the God of All Comfort.
This is the truth that is presented when the Apostle writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer” [2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-6].
When God disciplines His child, let that child remember that she is God’s child. If she were not His child, He would not discipline her. If a nation is suffering because the Lord has lost patience in the face of that nation’s rebellion, let the people know that if they turn again to the Lord, He will restore them. Let the people determine that they will do what is right and they will turn from their own wicked way and seek the Lord. This is the plea of the Prophet’s heart when he writes,
“Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
[ISAIAH 55:6-7]
The man of God has not surrendered his hope in the Lord. He understands that discipline is hard to endure. He realises that what has come upon the land is because of the sin that was embraced by the nation and even tolerated by the righteous. However, because he is confident in the mercies of God, and because of his confidence, he will ask the Lord to remember to hold to account even those who have injured Zion. He pleads,
“Let all their evildoing come before you,
and deal with them
as you have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions”
[LAMENTATIONS 1:22]
Harsh though the discipline may be, he confesses that the judgement meted out to the nation was deserved—he does not try to excuse the sin of the people. However, because he knows that the nation had a relationship with the LORD, he dares ask God to hold to account the wicked who are the instrument of God’s righteousness.
And even if it is too late for the nation, it is never too late for those dear souls who seek God and His righteousness. God does work in the life of that man, of that woman, who seeks His face, just as Zephaniah says when he writes,
“Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the LORD.”
[ZEPHANIAH 2:3]
Determine that though the whole nation should pursue that which is evil, you will seek righteousness, that you will seek to do what honours the Lord. Determine that you will pursue His will, for in doing this, you honour Him. And who knows but that the Lord God will spare you in that awful day that is surely coming upon the earth. Are you ready? Judgement will come, and it may be very soon for our nation.
For the people of God, the plea this pastor makes is for you to prepare to so live that you honour the Lord. Let us put into practise the admonition given by the Apostle, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” [1 TIMOTHY 2:1-4].
For any who are lost and outside of Christ, know that this is a day of grace, a day of mercy. Look to Christ to receive the life and the forgiveness that He alone can give. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
