I
WANT LOYALTY NOT SACRIFICES
Key verse 6 : 6
God's judgement is clear. He will not
heal them because they try to find Him with their human methods but not as God
would have them. Mankind has many false hopes because of their illusions. Knowing
the one true and living God is very important (John 17 :3).
1. Their hopes are
illusory (1-3)
By looking at the words in verses 1-3 there seems to be a
lingering hope in the coming about of God's promise in 5 :15. However,
God's answer in verses 4-10 (in the second part of this Chapter) is contrary to
these words. By His answer God rejects the mouvement of faith that the people
seek to express. Inspite of the apparently pious language, we need to carefully
analyse their words and note that the people make no mention of their sins.
They do not humbly acknowledge their sins. Instead they attempt to rebuild
their hope and courage by giving themselves the hope that God will restore them
after their political defeat. They believe that God cannot refuse them this
wish. For this very same reason God refuses to accept this apparent return as
it is not based on their sincere humiliation before God. We are often inclined
to honour God this way hoping that He will fix the bad things in our lifes. In verses 1-3 the
Israelites try to mutual encourage themselves to come back to God who is good
and strong and who will heal he who He strikes. However, this sort of hope is
very foreign to the reverent attitude needed when approaching or contemplating
God's holiness. In these three verses the people hope in being delivered from the
punishment that they are undergoing and not from their sin.
2 God's answer (4-11)
In
summary God's answer to this apparent revival shows that He does not believe in
it much. This is because Israel only speaks about its suffering but not about its
sins. Their vain words just their current emotional condition which is
ephemeral. God uses their own words « we will have the morning dew and
then a lot of rain » to telle them that their love is like a vapor that
will soon evaporate. Trust can only be measured once preceeded by one’s
humiliation. Israel thus needs to undergo this punishment It is by
acknowledging that God's love is sacrificial that love and loyalty spring forth
in us (Rm 12 :2).
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