Jeremiah 18:7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,

Jeremiah 18:9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,

Many of us will decide that this prophetic word given to Israel only applies to Israel. Looking closely at the wording the term “at any time” is not limited to a specific time and if that is true then the nations and kingdoms involved are not limited either.

If God would do this for Israel and God loves all of His creation, then what applies to one, applies to all. We should not ignore a warning just because we believe it does not apply to us.

Jesus came through the line of David for two specific reasons, to fulfill prophecy and to tell everyone that the only true God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Matthew 21:12-13 English Standard Version

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

What is not made clear is what has been stolen from God. That market place for Jews only, to buy and sell sacrifices to travelers from outside Judea. It was the only place in the temple where non-Jews were allowed to come and worship God. In effect they were robbing God of worship.

This ties into the issue of nations and kingdoms in Jeremiah 18 because God is the God of all His creation, not just Israel.

Given that Jesus said as much by sending His apostles to the gentile nations with the good news, then at any time, even now, the warnings of Jeremiah 18 apply just as much to us as anyone.

Warning: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ 

But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

Does any of this sound familiar?

Daniel 4:2 It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.

Some years ago I saw a news report of a woman and her children who drowned in a flood. The report said there was no flood gauge and she drove into the water without knowing the depth. Her car was lifted up and swept away and they all died.

The water was the warning. Her judgment failed her.

The opening passage was a good news message about being shown favor in the sight of God. Many of us have witnessed the goodness of the Lord in our lives because unlike the woman above, we heeded the warning signs and used sound judgment.

I cannot tell what happened to others that was a sign of danger. We all have different stories but they all have the same ending. The common denominator for each and every one of them can be found in one simple idea. “This is the wrong path.”

Whatever choices we made, our mistakes, no matter how diverse, were not leading us to safe ground. Many of the stories I have heard over the years have had a similar singular moment that sounded the same, even though the words were different.

Exodus 3:3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

In each and every story there was something that caused us to put aside what we were doing to investigate something different and too curious for us to ignore. It is something I like to call our burning bush moment.

It does not have to be as wondrous as a bush that is not consumed by fire, it could be something as simple as water on the road. What matters is that moment we stop and take stock of the choices we have made that got us there to discover we are on the wrong path.

For a few of us it seemed easy, we heard “Follow me.” It doesn’t happen that way for everyone. The guilt and shame of our past can cause us to see no clear path. My only advice to those caught in a cloud of doubt is to stop looking around and look up.