And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth. But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! Isaiah 22:12-13
People like to party, have fun and drown away all their troubles. When times are difficult, many will choose to drink alcohol, do drugs or something else that will make them forget their problems or troubles. This becomes even more true when they are at fault for the problems.
Isaiah said that God had called for weeping and mourning, but instead of that, the people ate, drank and were partying with the mindset that they should eat and drink because they were going to die the next day.
When a nation chooses to reject God and turn to sin, God chooses to bring trouble upon them. He allows things to go wrong, economies to drop, nations to invade and bad leaders to take the lead. The purpose of the trouble is to get the people to turn their hearts and attention back to Him, weeping and mourning, repenting of their sin.
Instead of returning to God, many choose to move even further away. They see no purpose in life and that all that will happen is the next day they will die. In response the world will often choose to party in order to drown out their problems with God, to ignore what God is calling them to do.
This attitude has crept into the church. All people want to hear is about the good love of God, rejecting the messages to repent and turn from sin.
The gospel message of Jesus is that one needs to repent of one’s sin and believe in Jesus. True believers will mourn the sin in their own lives and in their nations.
God is working at drawing your attention and the attention of the nation you live towards Him. As you see sin abound all around you, do not drown out His message with partying, but weep and mourn for God to have mercy upon your nation and your life. You may eat and drink today, but God will judge in the end. Give your life over to God and be His witness to the rest of the world.
Are you doing what God has called you to do?
Today I pray that you will know Jesus as Lord and Savior; that you will see God’s hand of judgement upon sin; that you will repent of your sins before God; that you will weep with God over the sins of your nation; and that you will bring the gospel message to those around you.
Picture by John Arano on Unsplash
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