The Christian church lives in perilous times. The statistics in the western church are particularly staggering. Tragically, people who claim to follow Christ know virtually nothing of His Word or the basic beliefs that define someone as Christian. According to a recent Barna survey, only one-fifth of all Americans who call themselves Christians believe that asking Jesus to forgive them and become their savior was the most important decision of their lives. Only one-sixth of American Christians are committed to personal spiritual development i.e. the study of God’s Word.
About 600 years before the birth of Christ, God raised up the prophet Jeremiah during a tumultuous time for the nation of Israel. The ten northern tribes of Israel had already fallen into the hands of the Assyrians and the two southern tribes of Judah were about to be exiled into Babylon for seventy years. Israel’s sin was causing the nation to fall. One theme that comes up in Jeremiah is that the people did NOT know their God.
Consider one of the many condemning verses that God speaks through his weeping prophet:
“My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”
Jeremiah 4:22
Do you know God?