No Awe of God

[504 words] I remember listening to a talk radio program where the host was eliciting comments on why the crime rate had risen for the first time in several years. As you can probably guess, most of the responses were extreme and unconvincing. Still, a common thread among most of the callers was that there is more crime when people no longer have a fear of punishment for crime, nor a respect for authority. Whenever and wherever wickedness rules, one of the basic reasons is a diminished fear of the consequences of wrongdoing. A major part of Satan’s success with Eve was the fact that he convinced her that “you will not surely die” (Genesis 3.4). He cunningly diminished the fear of sin and of God. Over the centuries this same theme repeated itself time and again in the history of Israel and Judah. In the time of Jeremiah, God…