WHEN TRUTH HAS PERISHED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.’”

Jeremiah 7:27-29

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have seen throughout the seventh chapter of Jeremiah, the people of Israel were not in good standing with their God and it was all of their own doing.

What we know first and foremost is that the Israelites had chosen to be unfaithful to God, abandoning Him, His word, and His will to pursue their own desires and worship the gods of other cultures, gods that were false and worthless. It’s of no surprise that God did not take well to this, particularly because He had specifically commanded His people to have no other gods before Him and not to bow down and worship idols. But the people behaved as if they wanted to live apart from God and His ways, thinking they could get away with it.

Unfortunately, they learned the hard way that you will never disrespect and disregard God without consequence. God will never turn His judgment away from those who willfully sin against Him.

As we look at our scripture verses for today, we find God preparing His prophet Jeremiah to deliver a message of pending punishment and correction to the Israelites. In that message, we find a fundamental failure by God’s people underscored, a failure that unfortunately has been repeated through the ages, a failure that has led to the people of God continuing to fall out of His favor and into His penalties. Look again at these words here:

“When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.’”  Jeremiah 7:27-29

The Israelites had willfully chosen to shut God out of their lives. In earlier verses in this chapter, we have found God testifying that His people had chosen to close their ears and stop listening to Him. As He gives Jeremiah direction, He already predicts that they won’t listen to the prophet either. They were bent on living in blatant disobedience and any corrective measures taken by God to date had proven ineffective. Unfortunately, they were not going to change without serious retribution from God.

So what was that fundamental failure of God’s people that led to this point, a point where they were going to experience the fullest measure of God’s wrath and judgment?

God provides it in His words to Jeremiah:

“Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.”

In turning away from the word of God, the people of God had turned away from His truth and as a result it had perished in the way they lived their lives. Left to their own wisdom and direction, the people of God walked the wicked path of sinfulness, distant from the road of righteousness that the word and Spirit of God would have led them on. That’s what makes sin so dangerous. It always separates us from God and leads us on the way to destruction (Matthew 7:13).

So we know when truth perishes. It happens when the people of God choose to reject and desert His word.

With this, we need to consider where this leaves us today and ask ourselves, “Have we become a people who have decided to live without consideration of the word of God?”

I’m afraid it’s happening and as it does, we are once again seeing the truth perish right before our very eyes.

When the Old Testament Israelites did it, they found themselves rejected and abandoned by God. In other words, they got a bitter taste of their own medicine and His wrath was served up in a big way as their nation was attacked and laid to waste while the people were hauled away into exile for seventy years.

In hindsight, they had to think it would have gone so much better for them if they had just made God their sole focus in life.

What is it going to take for us to wake up, repent, and turn back to God and His truth in our lives and world today? Is God going to have to send harsh judgment on our nation as He did His beloved Israel?

We had better serve notice to this word of God today and reverse course. For God will not be rejected or disregarded. We can either give Him our attention willingly or He will take steps to gain it from us through unleashing His punishment and discipline.

Rest assured of that for it is a truth that will never perish.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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