Jeremiah 5:20 – 6:15
This is not a test.. but if it were, would you pass?
What do you mean by that? That sounds like something an old testament prophet would say but it doesn’t sound like something a new testament pastor would say.
So how would you explain the challenge of the apostle Paul at the end of his comprehensive letters to the Corinthians? 2 Corinthians 13:5 reads: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith: examine yourselves!” And then he basically says, “or are you afraid you’ll fail the test?”
It was not a test in Jeremiah’s day but the real thing. Jeremiah was saying. God’s judgment was coming if things didn’t change pronto. Did you ever consider that we as a nation might be going through a test that may precede such judgment? It is not an overstatement to say that we are surrounded by a nation in heart failure.
Our political leaders think they can bring about satisfactory change by amending the Constitution. But God says, “Amend your ways and your deeds” (Jeremiah 7:3).
We the people, must amend “our ways and our deeds”, then the change this country needs can take place. And then maybe we will be able to stay in it. We are in need of more than a few heart transplants. Hearts need to be changed.
The change must be real and not superficial. There cannot be fake peace. There must be a collective reign of the peace of Christ in the hearts of Americans for God to forestall judgment. If Judah ended up becoming worse than Israel, even after seeing Israel’s great fall from favor and hearing all of the warnings, might we be in similar danger, missing our obvious comparisons to Judah? We have had great favor as a nation but there is a limit to God’s longsuffering. He endured with Judah for well over 400 years. And depending on how you measure the lifespan of the U.S. our time may be shrinking. By independence we’re 243 years old, by a Jamestown settlement we’re 412, so we’re in the ballpark.
Let’s pray that our beloved nation awakens to the call of the God who called out to Judah: He calls out to us: Amend your ways and deeds!
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