Profound Grief

 Jeremiah 8:18-22

Are you, or have you experienced this profound grief that Jeremiah is sharing with us about his people and his nation: “My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.  Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?”  Jeremiah has taken the side of God and is experiencing the mind of the Lord, and like the Father, he also is broken over what sin has done to the people of Judea.

As you look at the culture of your nation, the leadership of your country, is your spirit in agreement with God about the sins of your nation?  Are your thoughts on how this will affect you and your family or on how many will not experience grace when judgment comes?

As we explore verses 20-21, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”  For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.”  Jeremiah is telling them, and us the party is over, the fat lady has sung, all opportunities have passed, and there is no hope of escape.  There is a time when God has said it’s over, your sins have found you out, and you are not willing to bow, to repent, and that goes for both people and nations.  How close are we to a time like that?

Verse 22, tells us; “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?  Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?”   “Gilead was a territory in Transjordan, north of Moab, where the northern regions were very heavily wooded.  It was well known for its medicinal balm, a resin from the balsam tree that was applied to wounds, but neither healing nor healer could cure the hurt of the people.”  (Taken from page 1251 of the HCSB)

Sin always takes us deeper than we expected, and what a generation takes as excess the next will magnify it.  I fear the Lord, for He is holy and our sins and rebellion are before His eyes.  If this frightens you, it should, for a time of judgment will begin with His church.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice