We Are Not Saved
By Bruce Cannon
Mitchell County
Jeremiah 8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
As this article is read, most likely school will be back in session, the vacations of summer will be over and we will be getting ready for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. As this time of the year comes, I always remember the above verse. It is burdensome. Consider the setting of the verse: the time of its being penned down and the situation the nation of Judah was in and you will see so many similarities between Jeremiah’s day and that of our own.
Jeremiah was a prophet whose ministry was to the nation of Judah. His ministry began around 626 BC and concluded after 587 BC. At the beginning of his ministry, he saw the nation turning away from God. Judah was acting like the nations around them. They were worshipping other gods, sacrificing their children, and so forth. He knew the Lord would not put up with that kind of behavior from His own people. And so he preached, prayed, and wept before God for the sins of his people.
The unthinkable began to happen in 605 BC as God allowed Babylon to come into Judah and take many of its citizens captive. It happened again in 597 BC and yet again in 587 BC. After the third time Babylon came into Judah, their soldiers tore down the temple Solomon built, damaged the walls, and took more of the Jews into captivity. The nation was decimated!
This takes me to the verse above. Jeremiah was marking time in Babylon. He was a captive along with so many other Jews. Year after year passed and the people were still not being “saved”. Judgment from God had fallen upon the Jews and there seemed to be no end in sight. Thus, Jeremiah marks the time by harvests and summer. He laments “And we are not saved.”
This is so eerily reminiscent of what is happening in America. I know no one has hauled us off to another nation or into captivity as Judah was, but we are in captivity. We are losing freedoms! We are falling from within! Look at all of the divisions in our country. What is even worse is that we are seeing a lessening of people truthfully, faithfully worshipping our Lord. A smaller percentage of our population is attending houses of worship than ever before in our lifetime. And all the while evil is taking such a hold in the U.S.; I see it so clearly! I pray you see it too and are praying as I am.
Our current national leadership has taken us into a level of debt that we cannot support or sustain. Other economies are getting so much stronger than ours, and foreign military powers are flexing their muscle. In addition, we are seeing so much depravity and debauchery paraded before us from within with no shame in doing so whatsoever! What the Bible calls sin is being promoted and encouraged even to our youngest. We all have recently seen drag queens reading to children in libraries, the curriculum in public schools that have no business being there, tv shows promoting and normalizing wicked behavior and so much more!
Judah’s hope in Jeremiah’s day was for someone to set them free from Babylon’s grasp and allow them to go back to Judah. It would happen when the Medes and Persians defeated the Babylonians. Finally, after such a long period, they returned to their homeland. They returned to find the destruction of the Temple. But, at least, they were finally able to go home.
What is the hope for America? The Lord! A return to Him! Our hope is not in the White House, Senate, or in our Governors. It’s in the Lord! If only America would return to Him in brokenness, humility, and repentance, He would work on our behalf. He would move mightily in our midst.
If the only hope for America is the Lord, we must pray, repent and humble ourselves before the Almighty! We must claim Scriptures such as 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” We must practice the disciplines that will always invoke the mercies of God and grant us the power of God in such overwhelming situations.
Let us join together in prayer at this critical point in time. Pray privately. Pray corporately. Claim the above promise that God will hear our prayers, forgive our sins, and heal our land. Thank You!
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Bruce Cannon is the retired pastor of Bear Creek Baptist Church in Bakersville. Formerly he served as Director of Missions for the Bladen Baptist Association and has served on the General Board of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
Read more Christian news from Bruce here.
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Sensible words from a wise, God-fearing man. Thank you.
This Godly man knows exactly what he’s talking about.