Slipping and Sliding
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might is not right. ‘For both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,’ says the Lord. ‘Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery ways; in the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them; for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment,’ says the Lord. – Jeremiah 23:10-11.
Soon embassy guards may have a new non-lethal weapon that will delay or even prevent mob attacks from succeeding. Not only can the military make use of this new weapon but there are potentially many civilian police applications as well. San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute has developed what they call the “banana peel in a can.” It is a whitish gel that can be applied through spraying and is super-slippery. It is intended for use by the Marine Corps to prevent the overrun of embassies or military bases by unruly mobs.
The substance has been tested by volunteers trying to walk across a lawn sprayed with the “banana peel,” and if they had not been in safety harnesses many of them might have received broken bones as a result of the violent slipping and sliding.
Jeremiah prophesies concerning the judgment of God against those prophets and priests who have so wickedly lived their lives in opposition to God’s will. They think that they are safe but just when they are convinced that nothing will harm them, they will slip and in the darkness will be unable to break their fall. Many who live in immorality believe nothing can harm them, and they laugh at God. But there will come a time of reckoning, and it may very well be at a time least expected. They will slip without a safety harness and their destruction is assured.
Compare the prophecy of Jeremiah to the words of King David, who says “For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; your gentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me; so my feet did not slip (2 Samuel 22:32-37).”
Oh, what comfort, what peace we have to be shielded by the Lord. What a great safety harness is our salvation, which keeps our feet from slipping. Let us draw even closer to our God where we will find safety in the midst of turmoil just as did King David.
(How do you find safety in the midst of turmoil? There is only one place of safety.)