Guest Article: The Heavens are Shocked
Today’s guest post comes to us courtesy of Rev. John Hanson.
Over twenty-six hundred years ago a great preacher passionately counseled his countrymen that they were drifting into perilous waters. He predicted their political demise should they refuse to make drastic corrections. It seems that his congregation had committed the most devastating and most common offense known to man: they traded the real God for fake gods. They were driven by a desire to be religious without really having to obey the living God.
While pleading with his contemporaries to return to the true God, Jeremiah employed some curious language. He said, “the heavens are shocked.” God was shocked that mankind would trade a relationship with the real God for a relationship with powerless, temporal substitutes. Here’s the crux of Jeremiah’s message:
“Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,” says the Lord. “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me — the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” (Jeremiah 2:11-13 NLT)
Jeremiah warned his contemporaries that their moral choices were as foolish as choosing cracked cisterns rather than a real well of water. Are we making the same choice? Do we want true worship, intact families, real peace…? If so, we need to shift back to the real God who provides spiritual water for our souls.
Do you seek that living water? How do you share the Gospel with friends and relatives, or relate to them the experience of living for God? Tell us in the comments.
Just talking to people and sharing your testimony with them can sometimes be a draught of pure water. A lot of people don’t realize how dry their life really is until they find out what a life with God can be like.
Yeah when you look at this world, the highlights of most peoples lives is one night getting drunk or high and crashing the next day. I talked to one freind who told me “I’d reather be dead then have this hang over right now” I asked if it was worth and he replied “is it ever worth it?” Which is really kinda sad. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Ever reason to redouble the prayer, outreach and other ways of effecting people.
jesus loves you. bro. mangun recently had a archived service because the live webcast turned on the dvd somehow but the service was on the flesh and the devil. he talked about how jesus didnt listen to the devil. jesus told the devil get the behind. the devil tried to convince jesus. he said thou be the son of god turn the stone into bread. jesus said for it is written and he told the devil that verse in the bible. i forgot. remember jesus didnt eat for forty days and forty nights. then the devil showed him all the kindoms and he said i will give you all tisif you bow down and worship me and then jeus said get the behind devil for it is witten. so id say if jesus can do it we cn do it.