All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile. Lamentations 1:11
This verse hit me square in the gut today. The prophet Jeremiah calls himself "vile". Now I know that word is pretty harsh, especially when applied to yourself. That's not the hard part. The hard part is in context. He calls himself vile right after pegging the sin of Israel.
Israel had turned its back on God. This verse talks of their turning to the fun and pleasant things of the world to help relieve their pain. This is the nation that God Himself rescued with His own hand. The nation that God chose to dwell amongst in the tabernacle. This is the nation that chose the things of the world to treat their pain and discomfort rather than the peace and covering of God. Jeremiah is pointing out their transgression and then looks at himself and says, "I am vile."
Personally, I don't work like that. I know that if I was railing against the obvious sin of someone my next thought is not to look at myself and think of my own short-comings. No! My usually thought is how much better I am than they are. In fact, I may be able to justify a whole mess of sin and think I am okay, ESPECIALLY compared to the other's horrible behavior. Yet, I can't find the God that saved me by sacrificing His own son writing down that any of us are graded on a curve, or in relation to each other. Thankfully so!
Can you imagine being judged in relation to one of the apostles, Hitler or Jesus? I would hands down pick Hitler, yet Jesus is the standard. I encourage you to look at your own life. Where are you needing some work? Is there something that has been pushed under the rug because we are judging based on a relative standard?
This verse hit me square in the gut today. The prophet Jeremiah calls himself "vile". Now I know that word is pretty harsh, especially when applied to yourself. That's not the hard part. The hard part is in context. He calls himself vile right after pegging the sin of Israel.
Israel had turned its back on God. This verse talks of their turning to the fun and pleasant things of the world to help relieve their pain. This is the nation that God Himself rescued with His own hand. The nation that God chose to dwell amongst in the tabernacle. This is the nation that chose the things of the world to treat their pain and discomfort rather than the peace and covering of God. Jeremiah is pointing out their transgression and then looks at himself and says, "I am vile."
Personally, I don't work like that. I know that if I was railing against the obvious sin of someone my next thought is not to look at myself and think of my own short-comings. No! My usually thought is how much better I am than they are. In fact, I may be able to justify a whole mess of sin and think I am okay, ESPECIALLY compared to the other's horrible behavior. Yet, I can't find the God that saved me by sacrificing His own son writing down that any of us are graded on a curve, or in relation to each other. Thankfully so!
Can you imagine being judged in relation to one of the apostles, Hitler or Jesus? I would hands down pick Hitler, yet Jesus is the standard. I encourage you to look at your own life. Where are you needing some work? Is there something that has been pushed under the rug because we are judging based on a relative standard?
