The Crack in America

Bible

This is a flat-out WARNING:

A heads up. This one’s been brewing in my cup a long time, and it’s kinda overflowing… so, umm, it’s gonna be a long one.

I just can’t get away from Jeremiah.
The book. The person. The Old Testament prophet.
Known as the weeping prophet.
He weeps for GOD’S PEOPLE.

It’s not a story like Jonah, who was more of a “missionary prophet”, sent to tell the nation of Nineveh to repent and turn to the ONE TRUE GOD.

He was preaching to the ones who had seen God’s power. His provision.
They were His people.  He had revealed Himself to them and given them instructions on how to live.

So much of it sounds like America.  ONE NATION UNDER GOD, yet so far from Him.  Not just cracked–BROKEN.

“This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach…
But the message is very near your in your mouth and in your heart so that you may follow it.
See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity.
For I am commanding you today to
LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD, to
WALK IN HIS WAYS, and
TO KEEP HIS COMMANDS,
statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”
Deuteronomy 30:11-16

The words are clear: Follow Me.

God made it simple. We tend to complicate it.
I am no theologian and refuse to argue with those who claim to be, yet they deny the authenticity of God’s Word–or the simplicity of it.

FOLLOW GOD–or not.
There are no other options. God’s way or my way.

“Here is what the Lord says:
What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
THEY STOPPED ASKING: WHERE IS THE LORD?” Jeremiah 2:5-6

I can almost hear the tone in the Father’s voice…
GRIEF.

He loves. He warns, He disciplines. He pleads.
Return to Me.

“For My people have committed a double evil:
They have abandoned Me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Jeremiah 2:13

Don’t you see? We dig ourselves deeper and deeper, and the farther we get from God, the more empty our well becomes–the bigger the cracks.

He is the fountain of living water, and when we turn away from Him, the cracked, empty wells we’ve dug for ourselves become dry and useless.

I’ve visited this place far too often. Self-reliance, apathy, busy-ness, pride…all of it, SIN: “abandoned Me…dug cisterns for themselves.”

It sounds so sad, doesn’t it?
It would be, except for the truth that HE IS A LOVING, FORGIVING GOD who desires for us to return…

With all the turmoil in our world today, we tend to focus on those who are not following the One True God, but in my meager opinion, we should see the world stage, and grieve; BUT– should it not cause us to look inward to see if we, as His people, are drawing closer to that “well that never runs dry”?

–Are we consumed with the events far more than our Creator?

–Do we want to be RIGHT, or do we want to be CLEAN? Declared RIGHTEOUS by the cleansing of our hearts?

–Are we more concerned with the temporal than the eternal?  Is our focus on the things that really matter?

–AND are we truly trusting in God’s ultimate sovereignty? Is He in control or not?!

“Therefore repent and turn back, that your sins may be wiped out so that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19

“Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your untilled ground. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.” Hosea 10:12

It’s raining outside… and I’m praying for rain–on the
INSIDE, as I stand with my arms high and heart abandoned…IN AWE.
—Vickie