Jeremiah 6:16-19
“Go stand at the crossroads and look around. Ask for directions to the old road, The tried-and-true road. Then take it. Discover the right route for your souls. But they said, ‘Nothing doing. We aren’t going that way.’ I even provided watchmen for them to warn them, to set off the alarm. But the people said, ‘It’s a false alarm. It doesn’t concern us.’ And so I’m calling in the nations as witnesses: ‘Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!’ And, ‘Pay attention, Earth! Don’t miss these bulletins.’ I’m visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result of the games they’ve been playing with me. They’ve ignored everything I’ve said, had nothing but contempt for my teaching.”
“This is what the LORD says: ‘Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’ I posted watchmen over you who said, ‘Listen for the sound of the alarm.’ But you replied, ‘No! We won’t pay attention!’ ‘Therefore, listen to this, all you nations. Take note of my people’s situation. Listen, all the earth! I will bring disaster on my people. It is the fruit of their own schemes, because they refuse to listen to me. They have rejected my word.”
God purposed Israel to share himself with the world. He gave them the user’s manual on how things work best. They chose to live by their own ideas instead. Now God calls the nations as witness. Even in her destruction, Israel will point to the God who made her. Several hundred years later, during Jerusalem’s second destruction, God will make a way for those nations to move from witnesses to participants. He ever uses what is to point to what will be. Let us take note.
Lord, my own agenda always blinds me to yours. Help me grow in unity with you that my agenda and yours are one. May I always choose to consult your user’s manual. Open my eyes to my sin lest its consequences surprise me. I trust you to use my best and my worst for your glory.