Lately I have been reading the book of Jeremiah. I have been struck with its correspondence to the United States today. For many years the country as a whole honored God and respected His authority, as did early Israel. But recent generations have put God aside and do not honor or respect Him any more. Many are not even sure there is a god, let alone one to whom they need to pay any attention. While there is no attempt to give the new gods names like Baal and Moloch, the current generation is serving new gods of self-satisfaction, prosperity, fame, etc. Church attendance is down while more and more people are using the time pursuing their favorite recreation that previous generations spent with others in worship. God’s laws are being disregarded in favor of man’s moral sense, just as the nation of Israel was doing in Jeremiah’s time. Jeremiah’s warning about God bringing armies from the north to destroy Jerusalem and take the nation into captivity may bear some application to the current United States. Rather than an invasion from “the north”, it seems like the country is going to be destroyed by an internal enemy. In any case, Satan is going all out against any acknowledgement of God here or obedience to His requirements and design. And he is succeeding, even in some places in the Church itself. Jesus told several of the eyewitnesses to heaven as described in Heaven Is Beyond Imagination that He is coming back very soon. Everything that is happening is confirming what Jesus described as the “last days.”
But a bright spot in what Jeremiah told the nation of Israel is Jeremiah 17:7-8:
But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord / whose confidence is in Him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water / that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; / its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought / and never fails to bear fruit.
This is a good word for us today as we face increasing hardship and tough times. We must trust in the Lord and have confidence in Him for all His provision and protection. We need have no fears in Him and no worries because of His faithful provision for His children. He will give us fruit to bear to a needy world.