“Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste, because there is no one who cares” (Jeremiah 12:10-11).
This dramatic Bible verse comes from the Book of Jeremiah, the longest book of the Bible.
Known as the “weeping prophet” for the content of his writing, Jeremiah is believed to have died in 570 B.C., notes the website Bible Study Tools.
Born into a priestly family in the town of Anathoth, located near Jerusalem, Jeremiah was “called as a prophet in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Josiah,” said Bible Study Tools.
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He prophesied for about 40 years, said the site.
“Jeremiah witnessed, both in foresight and real time, the destruction of his people,” according to the same site.
“Upon Judah’s captivity, he penned the book of Lamentations, a highly poetic and devastatingly beautiful series of laments about the fall of God’s people.”
This verse is a reminder that complacency and laziness are not modern concepts, Rev. Edward B. Robinson told Fox News Digital.
Robinson is pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Repton, Alabama.
“Complacency and laziness are rampant in our society,” said Robinson. “They can be traced back to the fall of humanity, when Eve and Adam chose to have a complacent attitude toward the commands which God had given to them.”
The concept of “not caring” appears throughout the Bible, said Robinson.
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“And it’s not always the obviously ‘bad’ people who don’t care,” he said. “Those who are in the household of faith struggle with that same sin of complacency and indifference.”
“Quite ironically, it is God’s people who have received his provision of grace who oftentimes choose to adopt the attitude of indifference,” he said.
“They step back and watch while the world wastes away.”
Jeremiah was not one of those people, noted Robinson.
“He doesn’t understand why the wicked of the land seem to prosper while God’s people suffer,” he said.
“God graciously provided for them and forgave them time after time, and yet they have rebelled against him.”
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One of the main points of this rebellion was the “spiritual indifference” the people displayed toward God.
“They simply did not care,” said Robinson.
He added, “For the moment, the wicked seem to prosper. And Jeremiah doesn’t prosper. He is God’s appointed prophet.”
Despite being God’s prophet, Jeremiah “is hurting because he is suffering as the wicked prosper. And he is hurting because God tells him that there will be more pain to come because the people whom he has chosen to love so deeply have chosen not to care.”
This verse serves as a lesson for both humanity as a whole and “for those who are blessed by God to be in his sacred household of faith,” said Robinson.
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“Choosing to care is far more than having an emotional affection for a cause,” he said.
Said Robinson further, “In its purest form, choosing to care is about asking God to enable us to see the world through his eyes.”
“Choosing to care is about understanding that if we are Christians, we are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ — and if caring cost him his very life, then we should be willing to pay any price as we march forward to convey to the world that we care about our Lord and his gospel of grace.”
