Week 3 The sin of Judah

Jeremiah 22:8 And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the LORD done so to this great city?’ 9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’”

What was it that Judah had done that caused the Lord to take them into exile? Their sins are without number, we could go on and on all day about the things that they had done to anger the Lord, but I think it all boiled down to one thing....their heart was far from God. They had no desire to have that personal relationship with Him. They were content to let someone else go to the Lord for them....but in many cases they would not listen to those that did honestly go to the Lord. Instead they preferred those that pretended to go before the Lord and came back with words that were easy and full of promises for a bright and happy future. They were unwilling to face the truth because that meant they would have to take personal responsibility for their own thoughts, words and deeds.

Remember, God's dealings with His people is always about covenant and it is always about each of us individually. God does not fellowship or have relationship with a people, He has relationship with a person. A nation may be blessed for a time because of its people, but at the same time, a nation can go through times of judgment, even though there are some righteous people living in it. Take a look at what is going on in Jeremiah's day....we know from other parts of the Bible that there are other righteous people besides Jeremiah, but you would think he was the only one reading his book. Daniel and his friends were there plus at least 3 other prophets, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. So these righteous men had to suffer through the punishment of the nation. And there were people in authority that stuck out their necks to keep the king or the people from killing Jeremiah on several occasions. As you read the book take note of some of these other people that are standing against the tide of public opinion.

I am seeing more and more the similarities between the people in Jeremiah's time and the ones that are living now. I am listening to the radio right now and they are talking about the funeral tomorrow for Michael Jackson....he is almost being deified...it takes me back to when Princess Di died. The world was in mourning for her yet on the same day Mother Teresa had died and it caused only a minor ripple. Take a moment to think about the sins of Judah and compare and contrast them to what we see in the news each and every day.