Go and cry out to the gods you
have chosen. They have turned their backs to me and
not their faces. Yet when they are in trouble
they say, Come and save us. Where then are the gods you made
for yourselves? Let them come if they can save
you when you are in trouble. God warns His people of old,
that if they persisted in looking to their false gods in the time
of prosperity, that they would have none but their idols to
assist them in the season of adversity. In the same way, in
times of prosperity, the unsaved not only neglect God, but despise
Him as well. They cast off all fear of God
and serve their idols to the utter neglect of God. When reminded
of their duty to God, they think, Who is the Lord that I should
obey Him? I will have nothing to do with
Him. Leave us alone. We have no desire
to know Your ways. Who is the Almighty that we should
serve Him? Stop confronting us with the
Holy One of Israel Yet few are so hardened in iniquity that
they will not reflect on their ways when they come into troublous
times. Even atheists and heathen, when
reduced to great extremities, may force up a prayer to God
for help. They sought you in distress when
your chastening was upon them. Whenever God slew them, they
would seek Him. In their misery, they will earnestly
seek Me. But as soon as their troubles
are over, they return to their sinful ways without a second
thought, just like a dog returns to its vomit, or like a swine
that is washed, goes back to wallowing in the mire. So it
is with the unsaved. They are bent upon the gratification
of their sensual desires. They pursue their sins without
restraint, mock God, and laugh at all our efforts to turn them
to Him. Still, they never think of the
folly and danger of their conduct, which God has repeatedly forewarned
them of in His blessed Word. Do not let him who is deceived
trust in vanity, for vanity shall be his recompense. Job 15.31
Now they obstinately withstand all the overtures of God's love
and mercy, but it will not always be so. In the hour of death will
their pleasures or their riches or their honors, which they once
sought with such avidity, then comfort them. Alas! These lying
vanities can do nothing to assuage the pains of a diseased body,
and much less are they able to pacify a guilty conscience and
to compose the bewildered mind in the prospect of death and
judgment. Truly, miserable comforters are they all! God will mock them
in that solemn time, where then are the gods you made for yourselves.
Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble.
Those who cling to worthless idols, forsake their own mercies,
those scoffers of God, will then curse themselves for their folly
in seeking such delusions. They will then feel those truths
which they stubbornly refuse to believe on earth. How will
the ungodly man reproach himself when in hell? While on earth,
I only loved worldly vanities. Like Esau, I sold heaven itself
for poor worthless momentary enjoyments. Now, like Esau, God
has rejected me. I now beg God to send me only
a drop of water to cool my agonized tongue, but he bids me to go
for relief to the gods which I served when on earth. Now I
find that God's word was true. Do not be deceived. God cannot
be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The
one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will
reap destruction. I now reap nothing but damnation,
because I once sowed only to the flesh. Judges 10.13-14 You have forsaken Me and served
other gods, so I will no longer save you. Go and cry out to the
gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are
in trouble. Proverbs 1.24-31 since you rejected me when I
called, and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke.
I in turn will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity
overtakes you, when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when
disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and
trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to Me, but
I will not answer. They will look for Me, but will
not find Me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose
to fear the Lord, since they would not accept My advice and
spurned My rebuke. They will eat the fruit of their
ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.