Melancholy & Sadness

I told my wife that today I felt a sudden sadness. Perhaps I have been reading too much of the prophets. Most people don't read the prophets and that is why they can go living merrily without a concern in the world. Solomon writes that if one increases knowledge, he increases sorrows (Ecclesiastes). Ignorance may be bliss but spiritually dangerous. I read Ezekiel in the morning and Jeremiah in the evening. I read from both the Hebrew and the Greek with NETS and also my recently acquired Lexham English Septuagint. I read from Ezekiel 2 to 12. And this evening I read from Jeremiah 9 which has a passage that says, "Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it?" (Jeremiah 9:12). Surely, we need wisdom but very few are wise.

They rather choose to be fools so that they don't have to take responsibility and act accordingly. We need wisdom from God to understand what is happening around us. I just turned down an invitation to preach early next month since I felt it was not time for me to speak in public. Malaysia announced that the country will be going into the endemic stage of the pandemic starting 1st April while cases are past 30,000 each day. I am glad at least the Sabah government says they would "wait and see" as the State is still experiencing more than 1,000 new cases daily. It may be at the end of April or even June before we can relax a bit more. Everyday I hear of people I know getting infected with Covid-19. Why is this happening around us? I feel a certain sadness today and it is as if God is angry and sad at the same time that His people do not seek after Him. They follow rules made by men and do not cry out to Him. They trust in princes but they do not look to the Adonai, the Most high God. Who is going to keep us safe from all that is to unfold in the End-time if not God himself who will seal those who belong to Him (Rev 7), those who sigh and mourn over all the injustice and wickedness done everywhere? (Ezek 9). Those who are not sealed will be punished and they will suffer God's wrath. I wrote that, "preaching can only be relevant, contextual, and prophetic if the preacher understands what is happening around him and only when God speaks to him, he is able to explain it to those around him".