"The princess among the provinces has become a slave!" (Lam. 1:1b)
(Just passing on thoughts from the daily reading)
This is the inevitable end of rebellion---- from "princess" to "slave." This is what Jeremiah saw as he looked upon a rebellious Jerusalem. A little further in the text he says, "All her gates are desolate...." Fast forward to the twenty-first century. Several months ago there was a headline in a prominent American paper-- "China: America's Largest Foreign Creditor." The once proud financial giant of the world is now a "slave," dependent for its very life on a nation of torture, persecution of Believers in Jesus Christ, and human rights abuses of the first order. America has gone from lender to borrower, from "the head" to "the tail."
How many times we read in the Scriptures of Israel saying such things as they said to Jeremiah, "Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God." Yet so very many times they were just words. The saying-but-not-doing finally brought Jerusalem and Israel to the point where Jeremiah had to lament, "the princess among the provinces has become a slave."
The call to salvation in Jesus Christ for the individual is the reverse of our text. It is, "From Slave to Princess," to Prince, to "a kingdom of priests," but it is not just a one time "sinner's prayer." How quickly can the shackles come to individuals and nations by just one act of disobedience. The call in Jesus Christ is to "a devout and holy life," not just 'devout and holy" declarations. And, the Good News in Jesus Christ is that when obedience rules in my walk in Christ, when obedience rules in the life of a nation, reigning rules over servitude.
Father, in Jesus' Name, teach me moment by moment how to keep my "prince" status. Amen.
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Be Sure to read the article, "The Exodus Obama Forgot to Mention," @
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
