FEAR OF GOD IS MISSING IN GOD’S PEOPLE
Jeremiah 5:23-31 23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. 24 They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ 25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. 26 For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. 27 Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich, 28 they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. 29 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” 30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: 31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
COMMENTARY: One evidence of fear of God is trust for provision (i.e. rain). As a result, those who do not fear God set traps) to obtain money and power from unsuspecting people. They become rich in money, great in position, and proud (fat and sleek). While seeking all this for themselves, they do not concern themselves with the problems of others (fatherless, needy). Prophets and priests caught up in these self-serving behaviors rule over the people by their own strength — not by God’s direction. As if it was not bad enough that prophets and priests do not serve the people as they should, the people love the way it is. Like the prophets and priests, they think that this is the way things should be.
This scripture is a perfect description of the way it works in the religious community today. Leaders serve themselves at the expense of the people, but the ignorant people like the system the way that it is. Unfortunately, none of them will be prepared for the end.