God’s main complaint against his people in this chapter has to do with their rejection of truth and personal integrity. The people are liars, deceiving and being deceived. The culture was so full of deception that one couldn’t even trust friends and family. When truth is lost, society disintegrates. Notice that the loss of truth is the direct result of refusing to acknowledge God and His ways.
I am amazed at the parallels to our culture. Our society has, for the most part, rejected God. As a result, the concept of truth has all but died. Moral absolutes are being replaced by skepticism and relativism. Trust is the first victim of this new, “enlightened” era, unencumbered by the constraints of truth and morality. Casting off truth was supposed to lead to freedom; instead, it is unleashing an epidemic of fear. We are a fragmented, fearful culture trying with all our might to entertain ourselves into denial. It makes me want to weep like Jeremiah and then cry out like the wailing women, “How ruined we are! How great is our shame!”
Before we give up all hope, let’s remember that we do not have to be defined by our culture. We may not be able to stall our culture’s rapid descent towards self-destruction; however, we don’t have to meet its same end. This sad chapter ends with a reminder of hope. We can be defined by something else:
“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
In seeking to know and understand God, we start to act more and more like Him. Kindness, justice, and righteousness are His qualities that can have a redemptive impact in our culture. It starts though, with making Him the priority, the desire and delight of our hearts.
Who or what is going to define us and determine our end? The seductive excesses of our culture? Or God? It’s our choice. One day God will test our hearts to see whether we belong to Him or to the world. With sober judgment, let’s take an honest look at our hearts now.
Kip
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