Godlessness Yields Powerlessness

“But the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors. [Jeremiah 16.14-15]

God is not a God of the past but of the future.

Because His followers do worship Him for His mighty deeds, God is often only seen as a God of the past. However, as Jeremiah pointed out above, future events would modify their exaltation of Yahweh.

So, if we are stuck in praising God for things He did centuries ago, we might need to review our history with Him! Perhaps this "old news" could be correlated to the fact that so many people fall away from God. Perhaps our Godlessness has led to powerlessness and therefore to carelessness in our devotion to Him. In other words, when God withdraws His power from among us because of our sin (which is what He does), instead of us becoming alarmed and taking corrective action, we remain satisfied with His miracles of the past (even making doctrines of "no power" today) as if past displays of power signify God's pleasure with us today. This assumption is nothing more than powerless religion and Jeremiah pointed it out long ago.

The problem starts though with unrepentant sin (Godlessness). Godlessness yields powerlessness. Carelessness of the obvious truth revealed by powerlessness, yields pride ("it's not MY fault...") - and lifeless religion is born.

We need to see fresh demonstrations of God's power today. But first, we must repent of sin.

Father, thank You for speaking to me today through the words of Jeremiah. Let my testimony be of fresh demonstrations of Your power. And, if my testimony is not of fresh demonstrations of Your power, help me to make the obvious conclusion that sin is the problem. Be glorified in me as I confess my sinfulness and plead the blood of Jesus!