The Problem Series

The Israelites wanted to pursue their own paths, to live life their own way; they thought they knew, better than God did, what would make for a rich, blessed, abundant life. They had not learned the lesson from the time the judges ruled, that each person did what was right in their own eyes and there was chaos. WHEN PRIDE RULES, GOD DOES NOT. WHEN GOD DOES NOT RULE, THERE IS CHAOS. When God does not rule, it’s each person for himself. There are no righteous standards.

I appreciate how Rabbi Daniel Lapin put it: “Humans are by nature reluctant to submit themselves to a higher authority. Each one of us finds…liberation from external authority to be seductive. This is why one of the most conspicuous characteristics of our culture is the hatred of hierarchy. Yet, one of the most telling differences between a nation comfortable in its Judeo-Christian heritage and one engaged in a struggle to reject it is how people accept authority. Do they manufacture bumper stickers that proclaim ‘Question Authority’, or do they train children to obey parents, students to venerate teachers, husbands and wives to revere each other…Children are more likely to obey parents’ rules and later, society’s too, if they grow up watching adults accept God’s rules, even when those rules may seem inconvenient.” (4) There are, in fact, only two controlling ambitions – one is our own glory and the other is God’s glory. It’s what John said about the Pharisees (Jn. 12:43), “…they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.” As long as America continues to push God to the fringes and seek her own way and make her own laws with no righteous standards, there will be chaos. Going back to the verse with which we began this series, Prov. 29:18 – when there is no vision, where there is no revelation, where God’s words and ways are not proclaimed and followed, the people cast off restraint. The sin of pride.

The second problem Jeremiah points out is A LOSS OF REALITY OF JUDGMENT. Verse 19: “Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.” GOD’S PEOPLE DESERVE JUDGMENT. But the further people, and a nation, move away from God, the further away from their minds is the reality of judgment. So Jeremiah kept repeating the message. 8:12 – “So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the Lord.” Then in chapter 11: “So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep….I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although if they cry out to me, I will not listen to them…The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.” God’s people are not exempt from judgment when they abandon God and reject his rule.