” ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:  My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place-on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land-and it will burn and not be quenched.

” ‘ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says:  Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!  For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them,  I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,  but I gave them this command:  Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.  Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.  But they did not listen or pay attention;  instead, they followed stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.  They went backward and not forward.

From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.

But they did not listen to me or pay attention.  They were stiff-necked and more evil than their ancestors.   Jeremiah 7:20-26  HCSB

When you read some of these scripture passages in the Bible, they sound eerily familiar to what is going on in our country today.  There was a time when America was great.  Our nation was founded on biblical principles.  Prayer was a part of our lives.  We read our Bibles.  We went to church.  Children were raised in Christian homes.  Many of us like to sit around and blame the influx of drugs as the reason that our nation has gone so far down.  Some like to say that it was because prayer was removed from the schools.

But, we have to choose to live in the good old days or in the sad present society that surrounds us.  Now some of you are reading this thinking I am a few fries shy of a happy meal.  You are thinking that we have no choice but to live in the present society.  Well, physically, you are correct.  Our bodies must be in the present society.  But mentally and emotionally where is our focus?  Are you focused on the horrible situations in the world around you?  Or are you focused on God?  Now if you are focused on God, then I am sure that He has given you a heart to help out where you can.  But sadly, in our nation, we are making the same mistakes that the Israelites made time and time again.

If you have read the Old Testament, you have probably been frustrated with the vicious cycle that the Israelites tended to live in.  They would sin against God.  God would warn them to stop.  They would continue.  God would punish them by allowing them to be taken into captivity and slavery.  They would cry out to God.  God would rescue them and they would do well for a while.  Then they would  fall into sin and begin worshiping false gods again and the pattern would repeat itself.  Over and over again, they would go through this same pattern.

Now sadly, we have lived in a pattern of debauchery in this world and have seen its decline over the years.  In our scripture passage today, God is trying to warn the Israelites, through Jeremiah, that He is fed up with their disobedience.  He is warning them that his wrath is going to burn against them.  They have been very stubborn and have refused to turn back to God.  He is well aware of their stubbornness.  He tells them in verse 21 how their ancestors followed their own stubborn desires of their hearts instead of God’s commands.  He calls them stiff-necked and said that they were even more evil than their ancestors.

I look around me here in Louisiana and the wickedness is scary.  I am sure that it is like this all over the world, but what I am seeing in our neck of the woods is frightening.  The widespread corruption is something that has just become common place here.  Just the other night on a national network, they showed a program about a problem in a parish a couple hours away from us.  There was a young man who was shot in the chest after being taken into police custody.  The coroner ruled it suicide, even though the young man was handcuffed behind his back.  Seriously?  Our local newspapers run rampant about stories of the corruption going on in our own parish.  How long will God allow this?

Romans 1:24 tells us that if we don’t give up our evil ways and turn to God that He will give us over to the evil desires of our hearts. If you read the news reports, it certainly sounds like this is happening in today’s society.  In this scripture passage today God warns His people that they will come to a point where his anger and wrath burns against them and cannot be quenched.  I don’t think any of us want to experience that.

We have a choice, we can live in the present and live like those around us.  We can be a part of the problem or we can be a part of the solution.  Now as Christians, we know the solution is for everyone to turn to God.  We know that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.  We can do it now and live in the protection and shelter that God promises (Psalm 91:1-16).  Or we can do it later before being cast into the lake of fire.

If we want the good old days back, we must live the good old way.  We must honor God in our thoughts, our words, and our actions.  We must treat others as we want to be treated (Luke 6:31).  Obey the commands that God has given us in Exodus 20.  Focus on God and He will take care of everything else (Matthew 6:33).  If we do this and we are busy doing what God has called us to do, then God will work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).

Even when the Israelites were taken into captivity, those who loved the Lord were well taken care of and given positions of authority.  Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt, but was eventually made second in command of Egypt.  Israelites taken into captivity like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were given positions of authority.  Esther was made queen and her cousin, Mordecai was given a position of authority.  God takes care of his people.

Even in the worst of times, it can be the good old days for those of us who love the Lord and serve Him.  So if you long for the good old days and if you want America to be great again, know that you can have that, at least in your heart.  Just keep your focus on God.  Don’t allow all the evil that goes on around you to distract you from the work He has called you to do.  In our scripture passage today, verse 23 tells us to walk in obedience to all that God commands us to do, so that it may go well with us.  I hope all is well with you.

Have a great weekend!