No fear, a mark of rebellion and defiance

Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah, saying, hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not:

Do you not fear Me? says the Lord.

Will you not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.

But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”

Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.  Jer. 5:20-25

Here God commands the prophet to proclaim this message to all of Israel. They were considered foolish and poor because they did not know the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God (see 5:4). The prophet, at the Lord’s command, points to His creation, the sea and its shoreline. In this thing set before their eyes daily he demonstrates His power, control and mercy and yet they depart from Him.

His power, control and mercy are demonstrated in the immensity of the size of the sea, its constant tossing and the roaring of its waves, and his absolute control of it at all times. His mercy is seen in the boundary of the sand, a perpetual decree that the water will not pass over this boundary and swallow up the people. Israel’s lack of fear and trembling indicates defiant and rebellious hearts. These are hearts that have departed from their Creator.

People are no different today in the 21^st century. Using the same picture that Jeremiah declared we see God’s power, control and mercy in the roaring of the ocean and yet we look right past it and right past our Creator and His goodness. Think of the boundary itself, numberless tiny sand particles used to hold back this powerful ocean. Yet, instead of saying, “Let us now fear the Lord our God” we instead rebel, defy and depart from Him going our own ways.   This we do because we do not know the way of the Lord nor the judgment of our God. The psalmist and later Paul put it this way; there is no fear of God before their eyes!

May God give grace to see for without it we will go on in blind stupidity to Him until we meet Him in the judgment.