Thursday, April 28, 2016

A MESSAGE TO BABYLON: PUTTING TRUST IN THE WRONG PLACES



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.”

Jeremiah 51:17-18

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

Quick question: Where do you put your trust?

Do you put it in yourself?

Do you put it in another person?

Maybe you even put it in something that is completely inanimate like money or a job.

The point and fact of the matter is that there are many things in the world that would compete for our trust, all serving to take away our attention from the only One we should place our trust in and that is God and God alone. Too bad the Babylonians, as well as many other nations during Jeremiah’s day, didn’t get this concept. They would have saved themselves a lot of trouble, trouble that came with maximum severity as God brought His judgment upon His people.

We know Babylon put their trust in the wrong places because God’s word tells us so. Look at these words from Jeremiah 51:

“Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.”  Jeremiah 51:17-18

Rather than put their loyalty in God and God alone, the Babylonians had believed in idols which were as lifeless and useless as the materials they were fashioned out of. Babylon had placed their full faith in these false gods so what did that make them? God tells us:

“Everyone is senseless and without knowledge.”

As always, the words of the Lord ring true for there is absolutely no sensibility attached to anyone who would look at an object fashioned out of wood or metal and expect that it could do anything of value to them. But the Babylonians did just that, placing their hope in a fraud that would perish at the same time as the people who believed in it.

The idols were objects worthy of mockery and as we have read in God’s proclamation of judgment against the Babylon, the people within the mighty empire would become objects of scorn and ridicule themselves. Once an almighty, dominant force, Babylon would be reduced to rubble under the weight of God’s punishment and destruction.

The bottom line is that God doesn’t tolerate anyone who decides to reject Him, choosing some alternative object of worship and adoration instead. When anyone chooses to direct their loyalty to other places, they can expect to experience God judgment in its fullest measure.

If you don’t believe that, then you are ignoring the fact that every mighty empire in the history of the world who decided to turn away from God fell. It’s true. None of them were left standing.

Not the Egyptians. Not the Assyrians. Not the Babylonians or Persians or Greeks or Romans or any other national power afterwards.

So why would we even consider going down that road?

Why would we place ourselves at risk of God’s judgment?

Why would we ever put our trust in the wrong places?

These are questions we had all better ponder and ponder seriously today.

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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