Friday, February 13, 2015

The sad aftermath of abandoning God




But my people have forgotten me;
they make offerings to false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
not the highway,
making their land a horror,
a thing to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who passes by it is horrified
and shakes his head.
Jeremiah 18:15-16

This is God's assessment of human life without Him. Israel had turned from the worship of Yahweh. They abandoned God to worship false gods. They still worshiped. They just set their hearts on other gods. But the results were tragic. The idols they craved did not satisfy them. They stumbled. They walked a much harder path in their idolatry than God ever had for them in the Law. Working against God is hard... not easy. It is a burden, not a freedom.

And as Jerusalem fell under the punishing curse of the Law for this abandonment of God, all those who once enticed Israel into idolatry now watched the horror of societal collapse and the devastation that took effect. Their destruction was complete.

This warning stands throughout scripture. Abandon God and you abandon hope. Worship idols and find disillusionment. There is ample evidence of this in scripture and in history.

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