Unholy Living

Lamentations 3:38-39

In this chapter we will continue to look at the sovereignty of God. In verse thirty-seven we focused on how God is in complete control of all things. There is nothing that takes Him by surprise, there is no power that He has to relinquish. He does what He will always.

We see that again in Lamentations 3:38. It says, “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?” This verse is very clear. It is God Who brings both the good and the bad, the woe and the well-being. Not only that, but He also simply speaks and it occurs. Our God is so huge and so powerful that He doesn’t even need to move, and His will comes to pass. God spoke the world into existence (Genesis 1), and He continues to actively dictate how the world will proceed. Nothing surprises Him.

In Lamentations 3:39 it says, “Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?” Jeremiah very bluntly states that we have no reason to complain. When we sin, we should expect the repercussions of those sins. As we have seen, we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-8); God is not capable of ignoring our unconfessed sins.

We have no place to complain about the difficulties we face when we have been living disobediently. As we discussed in our previous article, those of us who only pray to God when we need something should not expect to have our prayers answered. Our prayers, when living apathetically, hold no weight.

Jeremiah was surrounded by a people who had been sinning for years. Though he had not taken part in the country’s wickedness, he was part of the nation. Similarly we face difficulties because of the countries we live in. We may be obedient like Jeremiah, but God must judge sin. However, as we have seen and must continue to remember, God will be with you and will give you peace as you face the difficulties around you.

We need to be careful in this world, and we must ensure we are part of the solution, not the problem. Agreeing with and supporting abortion, same-sex marriages, and the trans movement is not being loving, it is being foolish. We should never be okay with sin. I have said a few times in this series that God is holy and therefore cannot ignore sin. We are called to be holy and therefore we cannot ignore sin either. Not supporting sex changes, same-sex marriages, and murdering babies should be obvious.

I think where the devil is wise is how he subtly warps our minds in the “little things”. For example, I was in a bookstore a few months ago. As I was looking in the Christian book section I looked up and saw the cover of a book in a different section. I don’t recall what it showed but I remember it involving a man and a woman doing some sort of sexual act. My first reaction was to look away, which is good, but my second thought was, “at least it was a man and a woman.”

Immediately after that thought came to my head it occurred to me what the devil was trying to do. I should have hated what I saw whether it was a man and a woman or people of the same sex. Was I sinning? I believe I was. That was not a holy thought. I fear that we are thinking less of sins such as men and women living (and sleeping) together before marriage. The devil wants us to think, “well at least they are not in homosexual relationships.”

Soon, when pedophilia is legal, the devil will try and make us think, “at least they are in a sexual relationship with an adult.” Is pedophilia worse than homosexuality? Is homosexuality worse than two people of the opposite sex committing adultery? The answer to both of those questions is yes, but that is not the point. The point is, I believe the devil is trying to deemphasize some sins by introducing worse sins and I fear he is succeeding.

Here is the point I am trying to make: we need to be obedient and faithful. We need to hate all sin. We need to not allow the devil to minimize sins in our minds. Think about sins such as gossip, being irritated, and being unthankful. These are sins we do every day and, even when we do acknowledge them, we say a quick “sorry” and get along with our day. This is not how we become holy.

The devil loves that we don’t take all sin seriously. Let’s change that!

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