May 26th, 2009
The Shock
“When this happens,” says the Lord, …”The priests will be shocked, and the prophets will be astonished.”
Jeremiah 4:9
As you may know, last week Tim and I went up to Montreal for three days (well, we were there one full day and two travel days) in order to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. The reason we chose Montreal was because we love to travel to different cultures, but we could not afford any overseas travel. So we chose the closest international destination that we could easily and relatively cheaply get to. However, even though we like the adventure of cross-cultural experiences, we do not necessarily like the shock of not knowing how to act in a culture. For instance, before we went I stopped by AAA to get their tour book on Montreal. On the way up, we read a brief history of Montreal and a bit about the culture, what to see and where to eat. Although the book didn’t tell us the tipping percentage expected (we did look for that information), it did help us ease into the culture and understand its French history. Without this preparation, we would have been in quite a bit more shock as we maneuvered through French streets, looked at menus written in French, and even waded through French television. Because we were fully aware that we were entering a culture, so close to our own, and yet so French, we got prepared. That is how probably most of us deal with situations that we know may be uncomfortable – we try to prepare our emotions and our minds so we do not feel the shock. So, as I read the verse listed above, I questioned, “Why in the world were the priests so shocked?”
Jeremiah is prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem, and he gives everyone, including the priests, ample warning. Just read some of these:
“Yes, the Lord has this to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Your lives are as unproductive as an unplowed field covered with thorns. So get rid of your sin and make a new beginning. Dedicate yourselves fully to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my anger will leap out like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to put out. This will happen because of the evil you have done.” Jeremiah 4:3-4
“The Lord answered, ‘This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good.” Jeremiah 4:22
Even with all these warnings (and these are just two I picked out of chapter 4 to write here), the priests have the gall to be shocked that destruction came. What in the world does this say about the priests? This morning as I read this chapter, that is what I pondered, and this is what I concluded: They must not have recognized or admitted sin. Whether they blatantly ignored it, kindly justified it, or ignorantly accepted it, they did not take seriously the consequences of sin, and thus they were not emotionally or mentally prepared for the destruction that would come.
As usual, I read the Bible this morning not with only a desire to understand what God was saying specifically to the people in the first century and before, but also what this means to me. It wasn’t hard to get the connection! We, as priests, so easily justify our sin and the sin of our nation. At other times we ignore the sin in our lives or choose to not think about it. We minimize the consequences of ignoring God’s standards and rebelliously think we can live however we want. And then, when destruction comes because of our own or our nation’s sin, we will have the gall to be shocked just as the priests of Jerusalem were shocked.
However, just as the priests did have multiple opportunities to prepare themselves and their nation, so do we. I don’t mean that we should become a “stench” in our culture that completely drives away people because of our judgmental, obnoxious behavior. No, we should still live and act with love. We can, however, examine our own lives and ask ourselves, do we “Dedicate ourselves fully to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders our commitment to God?” (4:4) As long as we, as individuals, and even our entire nation, do not repent and humble ourselves before God, then we should not be shocked by whatever may happen. Let’s prepare ourselves by examining our own lives and dedicating ourselves to God.