“And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips. “‘Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.’” (Jeremiah 7:28–29, ESV)
How should we handle it when people we love reject the truth of the Bible and will not listen to reason? I believe we all know people who are not walking in the truth. They may even claim an understand of the gospel, but they have denied the complete, unchanging, and infallible word of the Lord. This problem is seen in their actions, words, and the things they support and do.
This is the problem with which the Lord dealt in Judah and Jerusalem. It was the same scene that Jeremiah faced with the people. What was Jeremiah to do? The Lord gives him some interesting instruction, “Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights.” It seems a strange request. The Lord wants Jeremiah to cut off his hair.
What was the purpose of Jeremiah cutting off his hair? Cutting off the hair was a sign of deep mourning for the nation. More than this Jeremiah was to “raise a lamentation.” He was to raise a dirge, in this case a funeral dirge for the destruction of Jerusalem to come.
As I look at what the Lord asked of Jeremiah, I wonder, “What about us?” How does this apply to us who are burdened for our loved ones who do not respond to the truth of God’s word? Are we to cut off our hair? Are we sing a song of deep lamentation?” I do not have all the answers, but I believe that in some way we should mourn over our loved ones who do not believe or do not live in obedience.
I knew a woman who once broke down in tears with her husband after a worship service. He was an unbeliever. He asked her what was wrong. Then she responded that she could not stand the thought of him dying without faith in Christ and experiencing the eternal punishment for sin. She illustrated what it means to mourn for the physically living but spiritually dead and destined for eternal punishment.
One’s only hope is to trust in Christ and His work on the cross alone. We must ask ourselves this. Are we heartbroken over the lostness of our loved ones? Do we mourn in our hearts for them? Should we not mourn for the lostness of humanity?
Renewing the Heart 