Misguided Faith

 Jeremiah 4:23-31

It is almost as if the Lord has allowed Jeremiah to revisit Creation, in verse 23-25, but that is not the real picture and verses 26-29 tell the story of what is taking place.  The Babylonians are coming, and Jeremiah gives a visual overview of the utter desolation about to visit Palestine. 

This once beautiful and fruitful land is going to look like a desert, it is destruction.  But this vision was not just about the coming of the Babylonians, but the final battle after Satan has been released and God’s entire fury against sin.  Anytime we read prophecy as a history book and do not look for more than one meaning we are in danger of mishandling the Word of God.

As the people got reports of the Babylonians closing in, they fled the cities and hid in the thickets and the rocks, and the cities were without people.  But in Jerusalem, they put trust in walls and armies.  When that looked as if all was without hope the women got dressed in the best they had and took time at the spas and the beauty parlors to prepare for new lovers, but the Babylonians were not into taking lovers, but into taking life.

That’s not a picture any of us want to focus on, it is death and destruction.  Not once did the people of Judea repent with a broken and contrite heart, they tried to fake a love for God, but their hearts were full of self and had no room for God as their King.

In America, we have in God we trust on our dollar, but it is not the God of the Bible, but like Judea, it is little gods, gods that cannot see or hear.  We are people who trust in government, military, the dollar, and none of those have the ability to save us.  Foolish men and women, who have lied and deceived us, have led our nation, all in the name of they know what is best, and we are allowing them to do so.  It is not too late to humble yourself and ask the Father for mercy and to confess first, your sins and then the sins of our nation. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice