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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Make her drunk, for she has defied the Lord.
Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be an object of ridicule. Was not Israel
the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your
head in scorn whenever you speak of her?”
“Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks,
you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest at the mouth of a
cave. Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the Lord. Terror
and pit and snare await you, you people of Moab,” declares the Lord.
“Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring on Moab the year of her punishment,” declares the Lord. “In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity.”
Jeremiah 48:26-28, 42-46
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever defied God?
I don’t think there has ever been a person who hasn’t, not
counting Jesus, of course.
For to defy someone or something is, by definition, to openly
resist or refuse to obey, to disregard or ignore.
We have all sinned and so we all have violated something God
has commanded or expected at one time or another. Most of us have done it many
more times than we want to admit.
You see, there’s a sense of shame that should come with the
sin of defiance.
Note I said “should” because as we look at today’s scripture
passage from Jeremiah 48, we find the Lord calling out the people of Moab for
their blatant defiance and there is no indication that they felt a need for
repentance. Look again at these words here:
“Make
her drunk, for she has defied the Lord. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her
be an object of ridicule. Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she
caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of
her?”
“Abandon
your towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that
makes its nest at the mouth of a cave. Moab will be destroyed as a nation because
she defied the Lord. Terror and pit and snare await you, you people of Moab,” declares
the Lord.
“Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring on Moab the year of her punishment,” declares the Lord. “In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity.” Jeremiah 48:26-28, 42-46
As we see in the passage, the Lord wastes no time bringing
attention to the Moabite’s sin of defiance and the harsh consequences He would
bring as a result of it.
First, the Lord would make Moab an “object of ridicule”, a
once revered nation who would now experience only scorn whenever anyone makes
reference to it.
Second, the nation which had a reputation of having wealth
and power would be utterly destroyed by the onslaught of the Babylonians who
would bring terror to the Moabite people. No matter how hard the people would
try to flee, there was no escaping the judgment God was bringing. It would be a
feeling of complete helplessness as no one would come to the aid of the nation
of Moab and the people would be taken off into captivity.
And that brings me to the third point for one of the big
reasons the people of Moab defied God was because they had placed their trust
in another god, a national deity they called Chemosh. Unfortunately, that god
was as lifeless as the trust the Moabites had in the one true God, the Lord God
Almighty, and they would find out just how true that was when the Babylonians
attacked and no rescue would come from their beloved Chemosh.
Friends, can you see that the Lord will not stand for being
defied by anyone?
We had better pay attention to the plight of the Moabites
because God’s judgment could fall on anyone today who chooses to willfully and
willingly reject and disobey Him, opting for their own will and way over His.
The bottom line is that God not only expects but deserves
our full obedience. Nothing short of that will do.
Frankly, it shouldn’t be that hard for us. For why would we
ever want to place our trust in anyone or anything else?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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