Image: The wedding of Andy and Christy in the spring of 2020. Due to COVID-19, family and friends could not travel from out of the country and watched on a livestream.
Read these verses—don’t they sound like the year 2020?
“I will remove from the cities … and the streets … the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride.” Jeremiah 7:34.
What could be happier than a wedding? Yet, the “shutdown” due to the pandemic postponed many weddings, and changed others from massive parties in giant halls to intimate gatherings in backyards. Sports were put on hold for months. Children did not roam the streets on bicycles or go on play dates. Birthday parties resembled drive-by shootings—all the children could do is drive by. And should you have the misfortune of being admitted to a hospital, it would be the loneliest time of your life. Loneliness was actually blamed for many patients’ deaths.
Jeremiah, “the Weeping Prophet,” wrote of these things, and they broke his heart. But THEY ALSO BREAK GOD’S HEART:
“My joy has flown; grief has settled on me. My heart is sick…. I am broken by the brokenness of my dear people, I mourn. Horror has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? … If my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people…. Lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account…. Should I not punish them for these things?… Should I not avenge Myself?” Jer. 8:18-22;9:1,3, 9.
God punishes sin. But He grieves for those He punishes. The year 2020, with all its disappointments, was also a judgment and a sign, begging the world to turn back to God: to repent, to speak truth, to seek God FIRST.
Dear God, please turn our family back to You. Help us to make good choices, to put You first, to please You, worship You, and glorify You in our words and actions every day. And please send repentance, humility, and brokenness to our nation.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 