Terrorized Hearts
Deuteronomy 28:67
In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.
This is rather like Leviticus 26:36, where the fearful hearts run from a windblown leaf. This verse caps off a chapter that begins with a list of blessings that will follow if they obey God. This happy part runs for 14 verses. Then the sad part begins.
First the blessings are simply turned around into curses. Then the shocking, terrifyingly graphic descriptions start and go on for 48 verses. Confusion, ruin, disease, drought, defeat, madness, blindness, futility, loss, robbery, oppression, idolatry, insects, conquest, siege, cannibalism, anxiety, dread, and homelessness are bare hints of the destruction that would come to Israel because of disobedience. The terror is so unending that hearts are full of it and desperately hope for relief with each rising and setting of the sun.
I've been reading about Germany and Europe, pre-WW II, and all the horrible things that happened. Was God still pursuing His disobedient nation into the 20th century, after the slightest of respites that had seen them settle all over a prosperous, civilized continent to become rich themselves and tightly sewn into the fabric of a secularizing society? Then their money and their assimilation suddenly turned to poison when neighbors let them be murdered, at best, or took eager part in it.
In the books, the nation of Israel has just begun, and is fighting for every breath. Two points of view are mentioned, one the Zionist, that sought good in simply living in Israel, and another that believed they could not have a nation until the coming of Messiah. I wonder myself. Though they still tenaciously hang on to Israel, the day has not yet come that they recognize the Holy One of Israel.
In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.
This is rather like Leviticus 26:36, where the fearful hearts run from a windblown leaf. This verse caps off a chapter that begins with a list of blessings that will follow if they obey God. This happy part runs for 14 verses. Then the sad part begins.
First the blessings are simply turned around into curses. Then the shocking, terrifyingly graphic descriptions start and go on for 48 verses. Confusion, ruin, disease, drought, defeat, madness, blindness, futility, loss, robbery, oppression, idolatry, insects, conquest, siege, cannibalism, anxiety, dread, and homelessness are bare hints of the destruction that would come to Israel because of disobedience. The terror is so unending that hearts are full of it and desperately hope for relief with each rising and setting of the sun.
I've been reading about Germany and Europe, pre-WW II, and all the horrible things that happened. Was God still pursuing His disobedient nation into the 20th century, after the slightest of respites that had seen them settle all over a prosperous, civilized continent to become rich themselves and tightly sewn into the fabric of a secularizing society? Then their money and their assimilation suddenly turned to poison when neighbors let them be murdered, at best, or took eager part in it.
In the books, the nation of Israel has just begun, and is fighting for every breath. Two points of view are mentioned, one the Zionist, that sought good in simply living in Israel, and another that believed they could not have a nation until the coming of Messiah. I wonder myself. Though they still tenaciously hang on to Israel, the day has not yet come that they recognize the Holy One of Israel.
posted by ruthees @ 1:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home