In the book of Jeremiah, there are many verses that cut right to the heart in pointing out the judgement of God upon the nation of Israel because Israel forgot God and wandered away from Him to serve themselves, their flesh, and other “gods”. While this book was written by the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Israel there are many lessons we can learn from it, because we serve the same God, and God still hates wickedness and sin just as much as He did back when Jeremiah was written.
In the Book, Jeremiah warns the nation of Israel that if they do not repent of their sin and serve God, He will punish them. Notice what is written in Jeremiah 5:25, “…your sins have withheld good from you…”
Many times in our life God refuses to bless us and to allow “good” to come in our lives because we have refused to follow Him and have refused to do what is right. In Jeremiah 4:18, the Bible warns, “Your ways and your deeds have brought these things to you.”
We seem many times to wonder why good things don’t happen in our lives, and why we are caught up so easily in the muck and mire of this world – well, we are to blame! It is most often answered like Jeremiah told the nation of Israel – we have refused to give up sin and wickedness in our lives, we have refused to forsake what the Bible says is wrong and seek after what the Bible says is right.
Our God is an awesome and amazing God, but He is also a jealous God, and wants us to follow Him completely. God questioned the nation of Isreal in Jeremiah 2:29, “‘Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me,’ declares the LORD.” And He questions the same of us. Why do we refuse to obey His commandments and follow Him? Especially when following Him and seeking Him are they VITAL keys to true peace joy and happiness.
I wonder, how many blessings and good things have our sins withheld from us? We have no one to blame but ourselves. It’s high time to seek after God and give Him our lives before it’s too late. I think many times we read in the Bible the word “wickedness” and argue, “Oh, well I do stuff wrong sometimes, but I’m NOT wicked!!” However, wickedness is the same as, evil, sin, sinfulness, iniquity, badness, wrongdoing, dishonesty, unscrupulousness, immorality, vice, and corruption. We must remember there are no “degrees” of sin with God. Any disobedience of God’s Word and commandments is wickedness. God gave the nation of Israel many opportunities to repent of their wickedness and He is just as merciful and gracious to us, but His hatred of sin will not wait forever, and unless we repent of our sins and obey Him, we’re going to miss out on a LOT of blessings and good things in our lives.