The Heavens are Hung in Black. Jeremiah 4-5; Matthew 5

May the mumbling commence!

Sometimes the world seems like it’s coming down.  The time seems dark.  Just watch the nightly news, and you will see.  The heavens look as if they are hung in black.

The heavens are hung in black… It’s the title of a play about Abraham Lincoln and the decision to extend the Emancipation Proclamation.  I thought about my part in that play as it was gifted to the community of Hutchinson, Kansas.  I thought about it as I read from Jeremiah chapter four.  Read a passage from it below:

I looked at the earth, and it was empty and formless. I looked at the heavens, and there was no light.  I looked at the mountains and hills, and they trembled and shook.  I looked, and all the people were gone. All the birds of the sky had flown away.  I looked, and the fertile fields had become a wilderness. The cities lay in ruins, crushed by the Lord's fierce anger. 

This is what the Lord says: "The whole land will be ruined, but I will not destroy it completely.  The earth will mourn, the heavens will be draped in black, because of my decree against my people. I have made up my mind and will not change it." 

At the noise of marching armies, the people flee in terror from the cities. They hide in the bushes and run for the mountains. All the cities have been abandoned – not a person remains! (Verses 23-29)

So it must have felt as the United States was torn with Civil War.  It’s ironic – the name.  When is a war ever civil?

We can look at the conflict around the world and weep.  The heavens are hung in black.

We can look at the division and strife that is rampant in the US.  The heavens are hung in black.

Where is our hope?!?  Where can we find honesty, truth and justice?  Don’t look for them among people.  Jeremiah couldn’t find one person who fit the bill.  Read from the beginning of Jeremiah chapter five:

"Run up and down every street in Jerusalem," says the Lord. "Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one person who is just and honest, I will not destroy the city.  Even when they are under oath, saying, 'As surely as the Lord lives,' they all tell lies!" 

Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to turn from sin. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent. (Verses 1-3)

They all tell lies.  You do.  So do I.  It’s pathetic.  Let’s begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  We will be blessed by the Lord if we do.  And we will receive our fill.  Read from the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five:

God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice,

for they will receive it in full. (Verse 6)

Plant a new hunger in us, O Lord.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out