Abide in the Core of Your Faith

God's People Worship
The Prophet and Praise
Joyful  Worship Restored

Jeremiah 7:30-8:3

The Message

^30-31 “The people of Judah have lived evil lives while I’ve stood by and watched.” God’s Decree. “In deliberate insult to me, they’ve set up their obscene god-images in the very Temple that was built to honor me. They’ve constructed Topheth altars for burning babies in prominent places all through the valley of Ben-hinnom, altars for burning their sons and daughters alive in the fire—a shocking perversion of all that I am and all I command.

^32-34 “But soon, very soon”—God’s Decree!—“the names Topheth and Ben-hinnom will no longer be used. They’ll call the place what it is: Murder Meadow. Corpses will be stacked up in Topheth because there’s no room left to bury them! Corpses abandoned in the open air, fed on by crows and coyotes, who have the run of the place. And I’ll empty both smiles and laughter from the villages of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. No wedding songs, no holiday sounds. Dead silence.”

8 ^1-2 “And when the time comes”—God’s Decree!—“I’ll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people. They’ll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they’ve been so infatuated with all these years, following their ‘lucky stars’ in dog-like devotion. The bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.

³ “Everyone left—all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to—will wish they were dead.” Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

 For Reflection

Old Testament lamentations are sometimes difficult.  This one is filled with references to atrocities that I am not sure would ever be interpreted as credible in our modern age.  However, if one makes a list of the things which would be considered most offensive to God in today's world, then, perhaps we could understand the outrage that is referenced in these passages.  The bottom line is that faith as practiced can be undermined and twisted into an unholy comprised faith.  As a result the faith that guides you and which is buried in the rubble of the obscene leaves you dissatisfied and without hope. 

Pray

that you will be so committed to the core of the Christian faith that you will never let the corrupted and disguised false gods seduce you into hopelessness.  Pray that you will listen only to the God-of-the-the-Angel-Armies.