Daily Lesson for August 10, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 19:

Therefore thus says the Lord:

If you turn back, I will take you back,

    and you shall stand before me.

If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,

    you shall serve as my mouth.

It is they who will turn to you,

    not you who will turn to them.

In the margins of my Bible next to this verse are these words:

"Preaching 2012: A Decision"

I can't quite remember what the decision was back in 2012.  But I imagine it had something to do with deciding to tell the truth.  For what could be more precious than the truth -- especially in these days?

COVID-19 is an apocalyptic event.  "Apocalyptic" in the Biblical sense meaning "Showing".  The last several months have shown us how disordered our society and its leadership really are, and how cruelly imbalanced between the rich and the poor we have become.  It has shown us how close to the edge everything is.  And yet, like those living in Jerusalem at the time of the prophet Jeremiah, so many of us don't want to see, don't want to hear.  We are on the verge of a serious collapse if we do not reverse course as a nation, start putting people before profits, and begin seriously reconstructing an economy that works for everyone, and not just some.  This is the decision we must make in 2020 -- now, before the elections, lest thousands upon thousands more lives and livelihoods be lost in the long run.

Again and again in recent weeks I've been thinking of what William Sloane Coffin used to say, "The world is too dangerous for anything but truth."

The world is very, very dangerous right now.  And the truth has never been more important.  It is more precious than silver; and perhaps the one thing that can still save us.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year.  Tomorrow we continue on with Jeremiah chapters 23-25.