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Trouble has come to Israel but she doesn’t
recognize the trouble came from God, Himself. Israel looked at the destruction
and responded as we all would…they cleaned up.; “The bricks have fallen down, but we will
rebuild with smooth stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will
replace them with cedars.”
And, God’s anger did not turn away…
The dilemma is…they “cleaned up” the wrong problem. They cleaned up fallen bricks and
dead trees when they should have cleaned up their relationship with God.
We can clean up after a calamity like
tornado, divorce, or flood and congratulate ourselves on our ingenuity and initiative
but…overlook the possibility that calamity is not a trouble to be fixed but a
message to be heeded. So, more trouble comes…the Lord raises against [us]
adversaries and spurs [our] enemies on and they devour [us] with gaping jaws.
Trouble isn’t always bad luck. Neither, is it
always God’s anger. Even so, I have to suggest we’re being self-destructive if
we don’t entertain the possibility that God is trying to communicate his anger
toward us. And, His anger will not dissipate until we “get it”.
I know…this all seems so droll. Haven’t we
become sufficiently sophisticated to move beyond such superstitions? We have…and that’s the problem. If our trouble
actually originated with God…as a means of turning us around…God is not going
to relent until He gets the response He desires. Our sense of enlightenment
only ensures trouble will return.
And His hand is still stretched out. Yet the people do not
turn back
Live
boldly out there today…
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