What Will Be our Curses?

Scripture:
Let’s examine and probe our ways,
and turn back to the Lord.
Let’s lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven:
"We have sinned and rebelled;
you have not forgiven."
Lamentations 3:40-42

Observation: This poem of woe tells of the downfall of Jerusalem and the people of God. Some stanzas tell of the terrible scenes of destruction now in the city. Some recall the horror of those who were attempting to survive the siege, living as cannibalistic savages. Some recall the actual attack and destruction inflicted by Babylon, and others mourn what exile life will be like for the survivors. However, this stanza represents a moment of internal reflection, when the write considers this fact ... this was done because we had abandoned the Lord, rebelled against his ways, and he was actually faithful to his centuries-old promises, so let us turn back to him and worship him.

Application: I live in a nation that is turning away from the Lord, and I know it. Everyone knows it, and many are actually proud of it. I wonder when this time comes ... when we will hit the point where we have sinned and rebelled, and instead of forgiving the Lord will exact his promised curses.

Which leads me to consider, what are his promised curses? The curses brought upon Jerusalem were explicitly announced when Joshua led the people into the promised land, and it was clearly intended as a warning for Israel, not a general warning for mankind. What will be our curses?

My wife and I have been discussing 'the rapture' for some time now - both the evidence there may be one, and the pre/mid/post tribulation timing - and I'm beginning now to think that the tribulation might be the clearest curse left to befall mankind. There is certainly alignment between other end-time issues in the world today, and now this general move of the 'western world' falling away from God. If this is true, then I can only hope for a pre-tribulation rapture.

And for those who experience and live within the curse, will they examine and probe their ways, and turn back to the Lord?

Prayer: Lord, there is an amount of both fear and comfort in everything I am thinking about today. With all my heart, I do love you, my Lord, and place my full faith in Jesus. Please soften my heart toward others so I may tell them of the hope found in you, and perhaps help them discover Jesus before a curse befalls them. Amen.