Vain Hopes

In our weekly Bible Study, we're working through Jeremiah and Lamentations (yes, I know... like I need the reinforcement!).  This week's passage really tugged at me:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:  "Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.  Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'"For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,  then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.  Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'—only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD. Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.  And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

As we looked at the part about trusting in the Temple to protect Israel, all I could think of is today's equivalent:  "This is A-mer-i-ca!"  We suffer from the same myopia that hits every great power -- the idea that because we've enjoyed past blessing and protection, the same will hold in the future. 

God's indictment of Israel notes their failure in five of the 10 commandments (with implication they really didn't care to follow the covenant at all).  Are we any better today?  Theft is a way of life, though it's often prettied up as Wall Street bonuses or government looting to support wealth distribution.  It's still both legal and widely accepted that the unborn can be murdered with impunity, and our nation wages war now at the drop of a hat.  The idea that Christian faith is an essential part of our social fabric is mocked, as society turns to other faiths and fads.  Then, like ancient Israel, we have the audacity to sing "God Bless America," or to declare ourselves some special instrument of His use.

We are as deceived as they were.  As with their insincere worship, for far too many today church is a square-filling exercise; a weekly duty to soothe the conscience.  Indeed, paying too much attention to the scriptures might rob people of their 'fun,' just as God noted the Temple had become a 'den of robbers' to the Israelites.

We traded a rich heritage for a mess of pottage.  Increasingly, I think people are realizing how bad the bargain tastes.  May the Lord both send us some Jeremiahs, and a heart open to His message to turn from our path.