Is it Nothing to You?

Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold, and I see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.”

The book of Lamentations is believed to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah is lamenting, or mourning, for Jerusalem and Judah. Jeremiah is mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem and its captivity.

Why did destruction and captivity come to God’s chosen people? Why would God allow his people to go through something like this? We find the answer in Lamentations 1:5, “…for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions.” Many people want to blame God for the wrong that happens in the world, but what they fail to acknowledge is that fact that mankind brings much of it upon themselves. They want to point out how God is supposed to be a loving God. They are right that God is a loving God. However, God is also a holy God and a just God as well. This is why He inflicts punishment on those that do not follow His commandments. He cannot condone unholy lives as a holy God.

The people had no reason not to follow God. God used Jeremiah for somewhere around 40 years to warn the people of the judgment that would come if they did not turn from their wickedness and follow God. Perhaps this is why Jeremiah is so mournful for the people in Lamentations. He had invested his life into these people to see them walk away from the Lord and suffer the consequences. Those that were suffering the consequences of their sin were not those that didn’t know any better. They were God’s chosen people who had a prophet that was trying to warn them, and they didn’t seem to care.

I don’t know about you, but this greatly resembles our country—The United States of America. There are many people in our country that are not following the Lord and obeying his commandments, and they do not seem to care. The fact that Jerusalem and Judah did not obey the Lord led to freedoms being taken away, and they wound up in captivity. As Americans, we are slowly seeing our freedoms taken away, and I believe that the sin of our nation is a cause of that. I am not talking about the sin of the lost people either. I do not believe that we can truly expect a lost person to act like a saved person. I am no way justifying the actions of the lost, but how do we expect a lost person to live a holy life without the Holy One living inside of them.

However, God expects more out of us Christians. Christians all around us are walking away from what is right, and I ask the same question, “Is it nothing to you?” When will we care and do our part to help keep our fellow Christians from ruining their lives? Maybe you are the one that is not heeding the warning from God’s Word. Come back to God before it is too late. Do not turn your back on the One that gave His only Son to save you from an eternity in Hell. If we think about it, this thought also applies to us in regards to the lost. Is it nothing to you that millions of people are on their way to hell? We ought to make sure that we care enough to keep ourselves and others away from God’s wrath that falls on those that do not follow His Word.

There is a song entitled, “Is it Nothing to You,” and it reads,

Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by

Is it nothing to you if our freedom should die

Can’t you see that our land and all we hold dear

Soon will all pass away, is it nothing to you?

God we pray that you’d withhold Your hand of judgment from our land

Give us men who will preach

Who’ll be strong and take a stand and never falter in the fight

Never move from what is right,

Is it nothing, is it nothing to you?

I ask myself this question today, “Is it nothing to me?”