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AFFLICTION – a great aid to remembering!

“Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths,” Lamentations 1:7.

That which Jerusalem stout-heartedly refused to believe when warned by Jeremiah, she has forced upon her by the afflictions that followed her rebellion and defiance of God and His Word!

Jeremiah had repeatedly warned in vain.

“My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge,” Jeremiah 4:19-22.

“Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:21-31.

However, what was refused from the lips of Jeremiah by the vast majority, is now ‘force-fed’ to the stubbornly stupid people of Jerusalem by the cruel hand of accumulated afflictions.

I. THAT WHICH HAD BEEN PRESSED UPON THE PEOPLE IS VIVIDLY RECALLED IN THEIR AFFLICTION

The word ‘remembered’ means ‘to recall to mind’. The warnings of Jeremiah had been heard but rejected but nevertheless, his words remained in their minds, unobserved and unheeded, until ‘affliction’ caused them to be ‘recalled’ and pondered. (more…)

“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly,” 2 Peter 2:4-5.

I was reminded of the almost universal scoffing that has greeted the Bible’s account of the flood of Noah as I read such headlines as:

Polish city urged to evacuate as floods batter central Europe

and saw the extensive region affected, covering areas in a number of countries in Europe.

The floods have been caused by a number of factors according to scientists.

The BBC reported the following: ‘The record rainfall seen in central Europe has been caused by a number of factors, including climate change.

Different weather elements came together to create a “perfect storm” in which very cold air from the Arctic met warm air from the Mediterranean.

A pattern of atmospheric pressure also meant that Storm Boris was stuck in one place for a long time.

Scientists say that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to more intense rainfall. Warmer oceans also lead to more evaporation, feeding storm systems.’

So say the scientists, who, despite all their learning and knowledge, know not the Lord or anything of His divine superintendence of all that happens in the world.

Pharaoh had to learn this truth the hard way.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies,”Exodus 8:20-24.

Last Days

At the close of this age, because of the nations’ increasing rebellion against the Lord, in a manner reminiscent of the defiance shown by Pharaoh, there will be manifestations of God’s power in judgment against wicked nations. (more…)