The Devotional - 65

The Devotional

Comment:

In my office I am surrounded by Holy Bibles, reference books, concordances, study books, teaching aids and current Christian magazines. These resources are not the end of it either, on line I have access to all of the versions of the Holy Bible in print and many more helps and references. Yet, may I say this to you “all of these resources mean very little to the heart that is not loyal to the LORD.” Now I am not alone in this, there are millions of men and women across this nation who have similar offices and on line benefits. Our church pastor is doing a study of this very subject and with my survey of Lamentations I have been considering the loyalty of the heart of Christendom in the United States and the condition of our homeland. Look around, talk with people, do a little homework on this and you might just begin to see why so many of us see the condition, or THE true “State of the Union”! THAT it is crumbling right before our eyes and WHY our prayers go UNANSWERED. Churches in the United States may be doing what is right in the sight of God, but the hearts of these churches are not LOYAL to God.

Challenge: Lamentations 4

Our pastor pointed us to a passage in 2 Chronicles 25:1-2, no doubt we have all read it before, but I think we have missed the application. This is something we do all too often, God speaks to us through His Word and our ears do not hear what the Spirit is saying. You know the passages in Revelation 2 and 3 where the LORD Jesus is speaking to the churches concerning this very subject of hearing the Spirit of God. So let us go ahead and blame it on the churches of the United States for our failing nation.

Woe, just a minute; how about passages in the gospels, the ones that Jesus is speaking to His disciples and to the people who are in earshot of His voice. Matthew 13:9 and 43; Mark 4:9, 23 and Luke 8:8, 14:35. In all of these passages Jesus speaks of His Word, referring to it as SEED or SALT. Individually we are disciples of Jesus, we have heard His Word and our personal lives are to represent Holiness to the LORD. Instead we are lacking the luster, like the churches, we may be doing what is right in the sight of God, but our heart is full of idolatry.

Lamentations 4:1-5 – God’s chosen people were made to walk through this judgment, why should we, the United States of America feel as though we are exempt. I know of churches and so do you who look very good to the eye, but have NO heart for the ear. Or they have plenty of heart for celebration, but NO ear to hear what the Spirit is saying. The ears of these folks are deafened by false gospels of works and love without “personal faith” in Jesus, thus they do the right thing but their heart is not loyal.

Lamentations 4:6-17 – The things going on in Israel at this time are horrible, we think; how can this be? How can compassionate mothers cook their own children for a meal to survive another day? How can Jeremiah say that it is better for those killed by the sword than those who are suffering through the famine? Once a nation full of all things pleasurable to mankind, now a nation of RUDY leadership and none recognized. Leaders who are drunk with greed and drugged with power.

All of this suffering is the RESULT of SIN, national and personal sin, leadership of the clergy (prophets and priests). No one, that is no other country, culture or people group thought that Israel would fall into exile. The kings of the earth refused to believe it, nor did any of the world’s people consider it, that the enemies of Israel could enter the gates of Jer-USA-lem. But and because Israel became UNLOYAL to God and played the harlot with false gods, we see in Lamentations 4:16 these words. “The LORD Himself scattered them”!

In closing out chapter 4, note that Jeremiah says this. “Men stalked us at every step, so we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near, our days were numbered and our end has come. Friend and citizen – if you do not see this happening in our beloved homeland TODAY, it is not because you are blind or ignorant, but because you have become disloyal to God (heartless) like the ostriches in the desert. Remember when we went through the book of Job and Job said that the ostrich did not care for its young, Job 39:13-18.

Yes, we are at this point in the history of this country, God is not pleased with our loyalty, our religious works are like the sacrifices of Israel. God was not pleased with Israel’s irreligious and false piety and God is not pleased with the United States of America and her irreligious and false piety either. Our national emblem is the fierce “Bald Eagle” a swift and deadly bird of prey, but we have an enemy who is swifter who is about to strip us naked, but unlike Israel the chosen nation, we will not recover, nor will we be restored if we do not repent before all of this comes in full force upon us.