True Grief Leads to Repentance - Part 3 Is it Too Late For America?

Is it too late for America? Will True Grief Lead to Repentance?

Lamentations 1:12 Is it nothing to you, all ye who pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

Israel and Judah had slowly slipped from their spiritual position in God to accept more and more sins. They became careless and indifferent. They failed to heed God’s warnings through his prophets. Finally, they crossed a line of no return. After the sins of Manasseh, there was no remedy. His grandson, good king Josiah, postponed the punishment for a time, but Josiah’s evil sons and grandson sealed the doom of the southern kingdom. God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to attack on three occasions. When King Zedekiah reneged on his promised submission to Babylon and sought help from Egypt, the Babylonian army placed an 18 month siege on Jerusalem. The king tried to escape, was captured, judged, his sons were killed before him, and he was blinded and carried off in a cage. Jerusalem was razed and the temple destroyed. Thousands of those who had survived were carried off captive to Babylon and dispersed. Only a small remnant returned 70 years later.?

God is working to call men back to Himself:

God’s wrath descended on Judah, who had been the apple of God’s eye. Death and destruction was everywhere. But God’s ultimate goal was not permanent destruction, but to call the people’s attention to their sins and turn them back to himself.??God judged her for her sins. In writing Lamentations, Jeremiah pictures Jerusalem as a mourning woman.?Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed: all that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she sigheth and turneth backward. 9. Her filthiness is in her skirts, she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter; O Lord, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself. 10. The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things, for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation. 11. All her people sigh; they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and consider because I am become vile. 12 Is it nothing to you, all ye who pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. 13. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back. 14. The yoke of my transgression is bound by his hands…?In Ezekiel 16:35-39, the prophet Ezekiel had already prophesied that this would occur.??It was as Jesus Himself said centuries later that one day everything that is hidden would be revealed. For Judah, that day had arrived. Would she respond and return to her God?

Even God’s wrath shows love in His discipline:

Many interpret the discipline of God as lack of love. They are wrong. A good father will discipline his son to form his character and bring him back to the father. God works the same way.?Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children: My son, despise not then the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9. Furthermore, we have had fathers which corrected us and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of Spirits, and live? 10. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

God is working to bring us to the end of our own strength:

The Lord Himself sent the punishment to Judah. Sometimes we blame the Lord for our punishment when bad things happen to us. There are many illustrations of God’s anger directed against evil. We need go no further than to remember God’s punishment of all mankind in the world-wide flood, or the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven. We need to remember?Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.?We need to remember that God is not only loving and merciful, but He is also the righteous judge, and that His wrath is against sin. When He judges, He always judges righteously, and his judgment is compatible with his mercy. His judgment often is designed to bring us to the end of our own strength and to direct us to look to Him.?

Once Paul was hindered by some sort of attack by Satan, probably both physical and spiritual, and Paul prayed for relief. He records this in?2 Corinthians 12:7-10 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.?Our prayer for America is that as we see the multitude of problems facing this country, we will repent and return to Him before we have passed the point of no return.

The Lord is righteous:

The Lord is righteous! Abraham said to the Lord when learning about the forthcoming punishment of Sodom:?Genesis 18:25b Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right??Likewise, Jeremiah writes in?Lamentations 1:18a The Lord is righteous;?A just judge will give right to the righteous and punish the wicked. Our God is indeed an absolutely just judge. But in His mercy, He also opens the way for repentance and return to Him. May we heed Him and turn back to Him.