One Difference

While having my devotion time the other 29° morning, I made sure to position myself right in the sunlight. My office is the coldest room in the winter and hottest room in the summer at our house. So on this chilly morning, I wanted to be squarely in the sun.

I was reading Jeremiah 5 at the time ... a sad little chapter where God tells the prophet to try to find just one honest person in Jerusalem, and He will forgive the entire city. You know the Genesis 18 Sodom and Gomorrah story where Abraham begs God to save the cities for 10 righteous people, then He can't find 10 and destroys them? Well, in this instance, God will save the city for one. And Jeremiah can't find one. The people refuse correction, refuse to repent. God calls them "foolish" and "senseless" and promises recompense. God says they are about to be conquered by a nation of mighty warriors that will go on a destruction rampage. And, boy, do they ever. The Persians destroy the city, burn the temple and take captives back to Babylon. It's a devastating blow for the Chosen People, and God says they will ask why it happened, to which He replies: "As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own." And  they do ... for 70 God-ordained years. But notice that God does not destroy the nation. In the midst of God's prediction of punishment for the Jews, he says he will not destroy them completely. He brings them back to their lands and the temple is rebuilt.

You can hear the anguish of the Father in this chapter. He's frustrated with His children whom He has asked time and time again, through the prophets, to repent and do good, worship Him alone, and care for orphans, the poor and the oppressed. But they don't. "Should I not punish them for this?" declares the Lord. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?" He asks in verse 29. Back in verse 22 He asks them why they don't fear Him when He is the Almighty One who set the boundary for the sea at the sand, that that "waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it." This is the God we serve. He may have patience, unbelievable patience, but even God eventually says, "Enough."

While I sat in the sun reading, the sky darkened slightly. Noticing a shadow and sudden drop in temperature for those seconds, I looked up to see a tiny ... and I mean tiny ... cloud covering the sun. We had perfectly clear skies except for that blip of a vapor. But wow, what a difference in temperature it made for the brief time the cloud had possession of the sun. I anxiously awaited for that thing to move on. And it did quickly. But I couldn't help but notice what a difference one small cloud could make. And it made me aware of the power of just one wee thing. The whole neighborhood was darkened by that one cloud. Scary how something so little can easily shadow the light.

But Scripture tells us one can easily make a difference, too. Just imagine if Jeremiah would have found just one honest person in Jerusalem. What a difference it would have made in Jewish history.

It did take One later to make a true, complete and perfect difference. A little less than 600 years later, God sent One to make all the difference in the world and save us all. He brought an inextinguishable light. A gift of atonement and forgiveness to forever cover the multitude of "foolish" and "senseless" sins that we have committed in the 2,000 years since, if we only ask. Glory to the Most High God for His love and precious Son Jesus.

Praying that in the midst of our generation, where there seems to be more than one cloud darkening the nation, we can be the difference that stands on the Word in worship, obedience and love. We sure need it.