“ Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness. But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.” (Jeremiah 13:15–17, ESV)
As a parent, I know what it means to weep tears over a child. We love our children very much and want the best for them. However, often things do not go the way we hope. It can be when there is an illness, the child is taken ill. It can also come when the child is hurt in some way, either by another intentionally or through and accident. It also happens when the child becomes rebellious and goes in a direction which leads to trouble and failure. Yes, parents weep, often silently, with a broken heart over the brokenness of those whom they love, especially their children.
Jeremiah had a heart for his people, the people of Judah, the Israelites. They had gone in a direction contrary to the ways of God. They were wayward. The Lord constantly warned them of their error. He called them to repent. Yet they did not hearken to the word of the Lord. They rejected the true prophet’s message and followed their own human wisdom and they worshipped idols, false gods.
Thus, the Lord pronounced a judgment on the nation. As they had continuously rejected the His call to repent, He would bring judgment from the north. They would be conquered by Babylon and taken captive. The prize city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. A small remnant of survivors would be taken, deported to Babylon. Imagine the heartbreak to Jeremiah who loved his land and his people.
Here the prophet pleads with the nation once again. “Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness.” He calls them to hearken to the Lord because if they would not, the judgment was coming.
Then he tells them this.
“But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.”
If they would not repent from their evil ways, Jeremiah would weep bitterly. This was because their core problem. Pride kept them from hearkening the word of the Lord, which would lead to their own demise.
Today, multitudes of people in our lives, people that we love dearly, are living life according to their own devices. This is because they are prideful and thus do not know the Lord. Oh, they may know about the Lord. Yet they have no desire for the Lord or His ways. If they die without the Lord, they will experience a horrific judgment. Honestly, this will break our hearts. We who believe will weep for them as Jeremiah did for his people.
What should we do? Words of warning are only a part. Perhaps they are ignorant, needing to hear the message of Christ again. We have the words, let us pray for open doors and boldness to speak.
Yet the problem is much deeper. After all it is a spiritual issue. Perhaps we are not calling upon the Lord our God, interceding for our loved ones with tears for their salvation. Let us pray with tears now. Hopefully our tears today will result in joy tomorrow. Consider the Psalmist’s words.
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
(Psalm 126:5–6, ESV)
Renewing the Heart 