It's Time to Make Up Your Mind

"Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it...And Shaphan read it before the king [Josiah]...Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded...'Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.'

"So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess...And they spoke with her. Then she said to them, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, 'Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read—because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.’ But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'Concerning the words which you have heard—because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,' says the Lord. 'Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place.' So they brought back word to the king." - II Kings 22:8, 10,11-13, 14-20

There are two great lessons for us in this passage.

First, the sins of an entire land may be so great that God loses patience with it and judgment becomes inevitable. At this point, the people as a whole have no interest in repenting, regardless of what their leaders may do for a time:

"Then the Lord said to me, 'Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.'" -Jeremiah 15:51.

In II Kings 23, we read how king Josiah made war against all of the Canaanite religions that had infected Judah, restoring true worship; and although we also read that the people agreed with him, after his death things quickly reverted to the previous condition. The people as a whole did not want God, so God gave them up to their enemies; and although a remnant later returned to Judah, the kingdom was never the same as before.
     I pray that America has not yet reached this point, but I fear that we have. There are no signs of anything turning around for the better. Just the opposite is true. We have reached a point where we no longer merely tolerate evil in our midst; we celebrate it, and those who speak out against it are hated and vilified. This is a terrifying development. We've not only closed the door against God, as a people we're nailing it shut, signifying to Him in no uncertain terms that we have no intention of letting Him back in. As a nation, we might as well be sealing the door of our own tomb.
     Second, we see some good news: for those whose hearts are touched, and who humble themselves before Him, God is yet full of mercy, just as He was toward Josiah. Sorrow for one's own sins, as well as the for the condition of one's people, is not lost on God. He will deliver those turn to Him, no matter what the culture as a whole does and what fate befalls the nation:

"Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, 'Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.' And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
"Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; and the Lord said to him, 'Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.'
"To the others He said in my hearing, 'Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.' So they began with the elders who were before the temple. Then He said to them, 'Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!' And they went out and killed in the city.
"So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, 'Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?'
"Then He said to me, 'The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!’ And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head.'” - Ezekiel 9:1-9

Even in the midst of calamity and judgment, God will set a seal on those who mourn over the sins of the land. The question of the hour for us all then is: what will we do? Will we go the way of the rest of our culture and pay the inevitable price, or we will turn to God in sorrow for our own sins and those of our people?
     We don't like to talk about judgment these days, but justice is just as much a part of God's nature as love is, and we do no one any good by sparing them the truth now only for it to come back and bite them later. Let the truth be told - the whole truth - and let men do as they will. Judgment is coming, and only those who draw near to the Lord will be afforded His protection. Those who reject Him now, He will reject then. 
     Don't play games with God. Don't listen to those who teach prosperity and "everything's gonna be all right," who never warn you to examine yourself before God or to repent and get serious about following Christ. Things are far from all right, and those who refuse to teach the whole Word of God (including the warnings about judgment) are not doing you any favors. Where there is danger, the only correct thing to do is to warn people to see to their safety. Whether they listen or not is up to them, but time is fast running out for all of us to decide whether we will be a Josiah and turn to God while there is time.

"For He says: 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." - II Corinthians 6:2



- clock image courtesy of "Sun Ladder" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2010-07-20_Black_windup_alarm_clock_face.jpg