“What Have I Done!”
You
shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When people
fall, do they not get up again? If they go astray, do they not turn back? Why
then has this people turned away in perpetual
backsliding? They have held fast to deceit, they have refused to return. I have
given heed and listened, but they do not speak honestly; no one repents of
wickedness, saying, “What have I done!” All of them turn to their own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle. Even the stork in the heavens knows
its times; and the turtledove, swallow and crane observe the time of their
coming; but my people do not know the ordinance of the LORD.
How
can you say, “We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us,” when, in fact,
the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie? The wise shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; since they have
rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom is in them? Therefore I will give
their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to
the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain: from prophet to priest
everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. They acted shamefully, they
committed abomination; yet they were not at all
ashamed, they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those
who fall: at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the
LORD.
Jeremiah 8:4-12
We
were not meant to fight among each other, but we have from the very beginning
in the garden of Eden. We place blame. We fail to take
blame and responsibility. Throughout history, people who were created to love
and serve each other, have fought with each other. The
amazing thing, according to the prophet Jeremiah, is that even those who know
God’s law can hurt one another without regret.
The
One who designed birds to migrate at His command does not merely call attention
to our wrongs. He offers to fill our emptiness with the fullness of Himself.
The
alternatives work: grace for bitterness, wisdom for foolishness, peace for
conflict.
Repentance not only says,
“I’m sorry,”
it also says,
“I turn from my sin.”
Our Daily Bread –