“They do not cry to me from the heart”
“They return, but not upward;
Hosea 7:13
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me.
They do not cry to me from the heart,
but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
they rebel against me.
Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
yet they devise evil against me.
They return, but not upward;
they are like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
because of the insolence of their tongue.
Jeremiah 14:10
“They greatly love to wander;
they do not restrain their feet.
So the Lord does not accept them;
he will now remember their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.”
Ezekiel 34:9
“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock.
Matthew 23:37
how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.
It does not take much reading in scripture to see God’s warning to mankind. Warning of not tending to His flock, not willing to be gathered to Him, not listening for His leading, Not thinking they were accountable, wandering away from God, not restraining where they go or what they do, not acknowledging they are living in sin, speaking lies, not looking upward toward God, not crying out to God from their heart, and rebelling from what they know God is speaking to their heart. You have to know at some point each of these people being spoken about, chose to stop seeking God and serving Him. I doubt it was one day they woke up and said I am no longer going to do this. But at some point they gradually stopped desiring to know His word and apply it in their life. They lost their ability to hear God’s leading. Their desire became only for themselves. Has anything changed over all of these years and generations? I can’t think of much that has changed. Obviously since Christ we have the promise of the Holy Spirit. We have access to the written word at our finger tips and reject the need of it in our lives. We have blessings beyond any country ever established and deny it to the point of not being content. I wonder how much more we will be held accountable for such neglect and abandonment. God forgive me. Fill me with awe and wonder of who you are. Search me and see if there is anything offensive to You and lead me on paths that bring honor and glory to You. Build a desire in my heart for You only. Open my eyes to see Your hand at work all around me. Open my ears to your leading.