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I drown in grief. I'm heartsick. Oh, listen! Please listen! It's the cry of my dear people reverberating through the country. Is God no longer in Zion? Has the King gone away? Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods, their silly, imported no-gods before me? The crops are in, the summer is over, but for us nothing's changed. We're still waiting to be rescued. For my dear broken people, I'm heartbroken. I weep, seized by grief. Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? Isn't there a doctor in the house? So why can't something be done to heal and save my dear, dear people? (Jeremiah 8:18-9:1)
At a very early age I was exposed to the prophet Jeremiah in an indirect way. Somehow, my mother came to know that Jeremiah was the weeping prophet and whenever we wept, and didn't want a reason to cry, she would ask in español, "Why do you weep, Jeremiah?" This passage says exactly why this prophet wept so much. The people had rejected God so much that the prophet asks, "Is God no longer in Zion? Has the King gone away?" He goes on to say that their disobedience and rejection of God has become a game; flaunt their idols and forget about God. This was not fun, nor funny for Jeremiah. He is heartbroken, weeping with much grief for their rebellion against God. He asks if there is no balm in Gilead or a doctor who could do something to heal God's people.
I venture to say that Jeremiah would still weep at some of the things going on inside and outside the church. We're a people that is drifting away from God, along with people who don't care about God, and those who have not yet heard and no one is willing to care enough about them to reach them.
Our prayers should be laments for those lost, and our action should be that that reaches them as quickly as we can.
PRAYER: Loving God, please heal our hearts and heal our nation. Help me be aa part of those who reach the lost. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
