How do sins, your sin, and mine affect God?

 Jeremiah 9:1-9

How do sins, your sin, and mine affect God?  Last night while watching the final game of the World Series, I am a guy who was not that good at little league ball, found much to disagree with the manager of the Cubs when it came to removing his starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks who was having a great game.  When Jon Lester did not start well my mouth was not kind to the manager, and my wife who was in the garage said you should not use that word, and yet she was the second one to tell me that, for the Holy Spirit had already spoken to me.  I’m the little league player whose fame was losing a ball in the lights and it hitting me on the head, was calling the seasoned professional a moron, and God was not pleased with what came from my mouth.

So how does sin grieve our Father in heaven; look with me at the first three verses to get a good picture: “Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!  Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them!  For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.  They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord.”   

The answer is it breaks His heart, and God wants to leave His people and go away from them.  Have you read what happens when God removes His hand from people or a nation, it is not what one in his right mind would desire?  So are you in a right mind, is the nation you live in seeking God, or is it like the United States of America, a country who wants God on its terms?

As you read verses 4-6, do not be like the Pharisee who asked Jesus who is my neighbor?  For you have Jesus answering that question in the Gospel of Luke 10:29-37.   Now let’s look into Jeremiah 9:4-6, “Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.  Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity.  Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.”  That’s a lonely place, no one to fellowship with, no trust, or hope.

As a people and as a nation a word to the wise is sufficient, so listen to God as He is speaking: Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?  Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth, each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart, he plans an ambush for him.  Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice