Jeremiah 16:1-18:23
Jeremiah 35:1-19
Jeremiah continued to warn God’s people of their impending doom, if
they did not repent of their evil ways and return to Him. In one of his most
well known passages (18:1-10), the prophet was given an object lesson. The Lord said, “Go down to
the shop where clay pots and jars are made. I will speak to you there.”
Jeremiah did as he was told and found the potter working at his wheel.
But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter
squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again. Then the Lord said to
Jeremiah, “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?
As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand.”
Then, the Lord gave Jeremiah one of the most insightful messages of
his ministry. “If I announce that a certain nation is to be uprooted, torn
down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not
destroy it as I had planned; and, if I announce that I will build up and plant
a certain nation or kingdom, making it strong and great, but then that nation turns to
evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless that nation as I had said I
would.”
In this message is the key to a nation’s stability. In it, we find
that the key to a nation’s stability is morality, doing right by
God. Nineveh, for example, was an evil nation which God had announced that He
would destroy it. However, after sending Jonah to preach to the people there,
they repented of their evil and God spared them. But, God built up Israel and
Judah and promised to sustain them and bless them; yet both of them turned to
evil and incurred the wrath of God. Why had God removed the tribes of the
Canaanites at the time of Joshua? Those tribes were committing atrocities in
the sight of God; they were immoral and, therefore, evil.
A message like this causes me to think of our country. America was founded
on biblical principles, on the tenets of Christianity, and, as a result, God
has blessed our land like no other. However, as a nation, we have
turned our back on the Lord and chosen to do evil. It does not take a genius to see
that we are suffering from moral rot; and our national stability is teetering
because of it. How much longer can God hold back His wrath? How much longer
until He squashes us as the potter squashed his clay?
Daily Reflection
“Cursed are those who put their trust in humans and turn their hearts
away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope
for the future; but blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made Him
their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach
deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long
months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they go right on producing
delicious fruit” (17:5-8).
The key to our nation’s future strength and stability is not military
might, a political party, or more economic opportunity. Our future rests in our
obedience or disobedience to the Lord’s statutes. A
nation that chooses to glorify and sanction immorality cannot expect the
blessings of heaven.
How do we turn a nation back to God? We can change laws, to make
people comply with the laws of God, but that is a partial solution. That is
an external fix to an internal problem. A better solution is to work from the inside out,
to deal with the hearts of people. “The heart is most deceitful and desperately
wicked. Who knows how bad it is?” (17:9). The only thing that will change the
heart is the Gospel of Christ. He is our hope for ultimate change!
BiAY.org | Day 222 — 143 Days to Go
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