How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. Lamentations 1:1
The Prophet speaks of Jerusalem after it had been ransacked and the people sent off into exile. Can you imagine if everyone in New York or LA or Chicago or Houston were kicked out and sent of to a foreign land? That would never happen today.
Or could it? The people of Jerusalem exiled God long before He exiled them. Warning after warning came for the people to repent and turn back to God. To make the Temple once again the center of their lives, of their day to day business dealings, of their prayers. The majority of them didn’t listen. As they became more globally involved in commerce, they began to absorb other ideas, other gods and other morals. They became a city of many cultures.
Sound like today, doesn’t it? It was easier a few generations ago when everyone lived under one moral code. Rules of conduct were known. Loyalty was to God and then country. Meetings opened with prayer, kids recited the Pledge of Allegiance and proudly said we were “One Nation Under God, indivisible”. Most everyone went to church on Sundays. Stores were closed. But slowly, the world began to slip in. Alternative ideas, morals and religions began to take hold. The commandments of God was no longer the center of our lives as a nation, and now many are questioning if they are still the center of our laws. No doubt about it, we are headed down the same road as Jerusalem.
Little by little our world is being exiled to a land where other ideas that once were foreign are now acceptable. A land where people make up their own morals and then match their religious beliefs to their lifestyle, not the other way around. Once great among the nations, the U.S. is now slave to the world. A widow who has lost the Bridegroom. Once a beacon to the world, her light has dimmed to just a few flickering candles who stay steadfast in their beliefs and still seek His ways.
What can you and I do? This is our wake up call. Hold fast. Stay the course, run the race and teach our children Biblical truths. But more than that, we must lean on God like never before. We must keep His Word close to our hearts and shine the light in the darkness more than ever. It won’t be easy but God will prevail. He always has a remnant of faithful to be the candle in the darkness and the yeast for the dough. Rise and shine.
