Singing and Laughter

O. T. #1743  "Singing and Laughter"
July 28, 2020
Jeremiah 7-Part 3

LET IT GLOW

Are we still singing and laughing during our days? Is there still joy in our heart? How wonderful it is to join with other believers and sing praise to our Lord Jesus. We must allow Jesus to maintain this way of life for us, as we surrender to Him, hearken to His Word, and His ways. Judah did not hearken their God. Today we will see what caused singing and laughter to cease in the streets.

It must have been very difficult for Jeremiah to spend the rest of his life warning his people of the upcoming judgment of God if they did not repent of their idolatry. He wrote what we have as 45 more chapters in this book. Then he lamented over the city while sitting in the midst of its destruction. Their loving God had warned His people and called them back to Him.

God had pointed out their ways of hypocritical worship, their chanting in the Temple of the LORD like it was only a good-luck charm to them. Jeremiah had to specifically tell the Jews to correct their ways and actions.

Tony Evans puts into modern wording how can God's response to their non-repentance:
"Are you serious? You think you can act like that and then come before Me for blessing as if I don't know what you're doing?"
God's people had so corrupted themselves that they had turned His holy temple into a den of robbers (verse 11). Later, Jesus took up Jeremiah's words against the people of Israel in his own day; they were also guilty of desecrating God's "house of prayer."  (Matthew 21:13)

The Temple had become a marketplace as they made the selling offerings and sacrifices, as well as using Roman coins a commerce and profit. It was difficult for Jews coming miles away to offer perfect sacrifices for their sins.

Are we making the church a place where items are sold? Or is it a House of Prayer as we worship?


LET IT GROW

God had given Judah one basic command: Obey Him and His commands and God would be their God and they would be His people. (verse 23) However, they would not heed the call.

The words hearken, hearkened (obedience, to hear, discern, regard, tell, witness) appear 3 times in verses 24-27. Judah would not do it, going backward and not forward. They hardened their neck, not bending to God.

Verse 28, NLT, reads, Say to the, "This is the nation whose people will not obey the LORD their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips."

God told Jeremiah to shave his head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the LORD has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked His fury.

There was nothing left for Jeremiah to do but to take up a lament for Judah. He was ordered to cut off his hair and sing a funeral dirge for the terrible destruction that was coming. (verse 29)

There would be an end to happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides would no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land would lie in complete desolation.

What a downer. The people brought it on themselves. It would be 70 years after Judah was taken captives to Babylon that the Temple would be rebuilt. That is a long time to not have a place to worship. Folks, we need to be concerned that socialism is trying to destroy our places of worship and remove the worship of God in our society. Think of how many generations now have not had prayer and Bible readings in the schools. Has this resulted in rebellion against authority and importance of life?

LET IT GO
Take joy, for the Lord Jesus is alive!
There is no power like the power of Jesus, His love, forgiveness, patience, grace and mercy!
May we pray for changed hearts in our nation as we sing and praise our Lord.