Jeremiah and Egypt

WARNING: YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS ONE!

Entrance into Pyramid of Giza and Sphynx Complex-This was an entrance into the worship center of ancient Egypt

Imagine yourself walking into your favorite store to go shopping and this crazy guy is pleading with you not to shop there. Or imagine yourself being confronted with that same old crazy guy as you express your love for your country. Imagine again that the same crazy guy is telling you that you cannot do everything and you cannot do anything you want. Is he trying to take away your freedom? Is he a threat to your country? Now, imagine if this guy stood outside your church and urged you not enter but instead to turn away from your idolatry. What is this guy saying? Aren't you simply doing what you normally do? What is perfectly fine to do? Surely, he is wrong. What's more is he is saying that you and your people will be destroyed if you keep this practice of idolatry. How dare he make such a hate-filled statement! How dare he tell me that I am in the wrong! After all, we have been blessed mightily in America. Have we not? If doing these things is what brought that blessing then how could we be in the wrong? This crazy man was Jeremiah. But who listens to prophets anyways?

A smaller statue of a sphynx that is damaged

Jeremiah 44:1-30 tells us how God used Jeremiah to speak to the Israelites from Judah who were living in Egypt. He told them to turn away from their idolatry and yet outright rebuked him. They would not listen. In Jeremiah 46:1-28, God pronounces his resolute decision to destroy Egypt for their idolatrous ways. Why not let them wallow in their sins? Because He loves them. A stubborn child sometimes needs to learn the hard way. And humans are known to be quite stubborn. For, similar messages were sent to the Israelites all throughout the book of Jeremiah and who listened? Below are pictures from my trip to Egypt. What do you see? Ruins that are now landmarks of history. Is this the path that we are on today? One may say, "Well, I wouldn't discipline my children that way!" But who are they to say how God should and should not discipline. We live in a culture that is full of self relation. We look at things in relation to ourselves as if we are the determiners of what is right and wrong, good and bad, etc. Are we the measure of perfection or God?

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Another shot of the entrance to an ancient Egyptian place of worship

Part of a mummy sticking out of the ground

broken pottery and stones from decades of destruction and inhabitation

The great sphynx and great pyramids-They used to be covered in beautiful stone, gold, and paint

One of the oldest pyramids in the world

Main entrance into an ancient Egyptian place of worship

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Do we worship the clothes we buy? Do we worship the people on TV? Do we deify our political system and put our hope and faith in it alone? Do we claim to know God all the while

An ancient entrance/doorway into a place of worship

we act as if we are gods ourelves? Do we depend on the creation and not the creator? This is something that I have had to face in my own life. When I was in highschool, I made soccer my idol. I thought that God was above soccer but I was wrong. Woe to me should I do such a thing ever again! When you place anything above God, you are elevating, exalting, worshiping it over God. Search your heart! What is most important to you? Is personal security more important to you than God? Is advocating justice more important than your relationship with God? Woe to us! I see people everywhere saying things that scare me! They

scare me because I have seen the ruins of idolatry and I fear for our souls! God is a jealous

Entrance into one of the oldest pyramids in the world

God. He will not share us with anyone or anything! Does a husband stand passive as his wife has sexual relations with another man? Surely, his anger will grow with her! Of all the pills that are hard to swallow, acknowledgment of our sins can be one of the most difficult pills to swallow. But, it is the first step towards forgiveness.

As COVID-19 spreads fear and chaos in our world, we should repent and seek God. We must repent before our Memphis becomes like the ancient Egyptian Memphis, before our tall pillars of our government fall like the the buildings in Israel once fell. Woe to us! For if we do not truly and deeply repent, we will be destroyed!

Enormous sculpture of King Tut- Ancient Egyptians worshiped their pharaohs as the son of their god Ra

In Jeremiah 46:26-28, God does say that He will not destroy all of them and that people will live in Egypt again. This is a sign that He does not do this out of malice but out of love for His people. He is teaching them how to behave as members of His family. Idolatry is unacceptable in God's eyes. Do not worship the church or ministry. Do not worship or use yourself as the measure of excellence. What is excellent and good and right? God. What have you been comparing lately? Lord, forgive me for my idolatry. Psalm 86:11 says "Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." My prayer is that we will turn away from our sins and that the hand of the Lord will turn from us. We cannot control the things we think we can but by turning away from our sinful ways and repenting, truly repenting, His grace can abound. In the ancient times, if someone committed a crime and then clung to the horn of the altar, it meant they were pleading for grace. We should all be clinging to God begging for mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

Man made lake believed to be from the time of Joseph

Extra Credit Readings:

Jeremiah

Judges

Exodus

Genesis