“My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.”
– Jeremiah 16:17
Hi James and Ellen,
What does having fun mean to you? Do you like to have fun? If you like to have fun, what do you like to do for fun? Do you like to do things with your dad and/or ma? Do you like to play games? Do you like to go to parties? Getting together as a family like we just did with you in Florida is something fun that your grandmaa and grandpaa like to do. Fixing a puzzle is something fun that your grandmaa and grandpaa like to do. Going to a place where there is water where your grandmaa and grandpaa can go fishing, eclectic stores where your grandmaa and grandpaa can peruse and nice restaurants where your grandmaa and grandpaa can choose from to go to to eat are fun things that your grandmaa and grandpaa like to do. Corumbá, Brazil is a place where your grandmaa and grandpaa went on a train to several times when they were missionaries on South America Mission’s field missionary team in Bolivia. Your grandmaa and grandpaa always had fun while they were in Corumbá. Something that your grandmaa and grandpaa would do for a full day most every time that they were in Corumbá was to go fishing in the Paraguay River and in the tributaries that flow into the Paraguay River. The day before your grandmaa and grandpaa would go out fishing on the Paraguay River and on the Paraguay River’s tributaries, your grandpaa would find a guy who had a flat bottom, aluminum boat who would be willing to be for $75 the guide for your grandmaa and grandpaa for the full day. The guy would get the bait to use to catch a couple of different kinds of catfish, dorado, piranha, pacu, etc. that are in the Paraguay River and in the Paraguay River’s tributaries, he would pack a lunch for your grandmaa and grandpaa to eat plus and he would clean and flash freeze the fish that your grandmaa and grandpaa caught. A guy or guys from the South America Mission affiliated church in Puerto Suarez, Bolivia – after your grandpaa had let them know that he and your grandmaa had gone fishing again and . . . would cross over the Bolivian/Brazilian border into Brazil to pick up the cleaned, frozen fish for a church fish fry. Your grandmaa really liked going with your grandpaa on these fishing excursions – as it was always fun for her to see the herons, capybaras, alligators, etc. that are found in the Pantanal – which is the name of the large area of tropical wetlands that is in western Brazil.
What do you think that life would be like for you today if you could not have fun? What would you do if you were told that you could never go again to Disney World? What would you do if you were told that you could never again go to a friend’s house to play? What would you do if you were told that you could never again be happy about anything? Somewhere around 2590 years ago, God – as God the Father, told Jeremiah – who was one of his prophet spokesmen, that He had had enough of the blatant disobedience of His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 16 is God giving a very terse avowal through God – as God the Spirit, to Jeremiah. God – as God the Father, tells Jeremiah that He was never again going to let His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem to continue to do the wicked things that they were doing. God made it very clear to Jeremiah that the devious lifestyles of His specially chosen guys and gals were not escaping Him. Verse 17 says, “My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.”
How does it feel to know that God always sees everything that you do? Because His specially chosen guys and gals had defiled the land that God had given to them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem were about to find out what was going to happen to them because of their not complying to the ‘if’ clause. God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living at this time in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem were persistently violating the core mandates that God had given them over 900 years earlier – which was to never ever pursue living impious, sinful lives through worshipping manmade lifeless forms, vile images and detestable idols handmade from wood, clay, stone and metal. After years and years of having His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem make a mockery of His unmerited grace, God took fun out of Jeremiah’s life. God told Jeremiah that he is to never get married, to never have kids, to never go to a funeral and to never go to a wedding. God then told Jeremiah to tell His specially chosen guys and gals that their obstinate, sinful hearts had doomed them to suffer all kinds of horrors. God told Jeremiah that His specially chosen guys and gals who were living the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem would soon begin to die from terminal diseases, a devastating famine and enemy swords. God told Jeremiah that as His specially chosen guys and gals die, they would not be buried but instead they would be left lying on the ground where they died – with their corpses becoming nothing more than rubbish and food for birds and animals to eat. Because God has been given less and less deference – let alone veneration, from the guys, gals and kids who have been having fun in the United States. Do you think that there will come a time soon when guys, gals and kids who are living in the United States will no longer know fun?
Jeremiah 16 (1032)