Empty Houses

Daily Reading: Lamentations 1

How lonely sits the city that was full of people! ... She took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible. (Lamentations 1.1, 9)

Devotional Thought:  Thomas Shevory, an American touring cyclist, wrote The Great Lakes at Ten Miles per Hour.  In it, he described the decaying conditions of the industrial cities in the "Rust Belt."  Particularly poignant was his description of Detroit:

I viewed an increasingly desolate urban landscape. I’d never seen so many abandoned buildings in one place before. Some were tall, ten or fifteen stories. Many had all of the windows broken out. In between were large swaths of vacant lots. Scenes like this went on for blocks and blocks.

"Empty houses.  A rather bleak picture of a 'city that was full of people,'" I thought.

Jeremiah, "The Weeping Prophet" who wrote Lamentations, saw the same desolation in Jerusalem two millennia ago: "How lonely sits the city!" (v. 1).  Jeremiah and all of Jerusalem watched in horror as the Babylonian army laid siege to their city.  After eighteen months, the city - which had thought itself infallible - fell.  The destruction was complete.

What happened?  "She took no thought of her future" (v. 9). 

I'm afraid that same tragedy is being repeated today.  Whether it's ancient Jerusalem, American cities, cold churches, or complacent Christians, those who take no thought of their future - especially as it relates to God and his righteousness - are doomed to fall.  We cannot live for the moment, for what feels good right now, while ignoring future impacts.  To do so will result in "empty houses."

Jesus didn't come that we would have "empty houses," but he came that we "may have life and have it to the full" (John 10.10, NIV).  That fullness includes eternal life.  Take thought of your future.

Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to take thought of my future, to plan and to live within your fullness.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 18.1-6

1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.

2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me;

5 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.