"I set before you Life.... Death..."

These are two photos that I saw this week.  For me they sum up life.... the universe... everything.

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,  I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.  I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;  that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."

Jeremiah 1:5

"And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’

Jeremiah 32:35

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

Isaiah 5:20

This photo breaks my heart.  I can wish I never saw it, hide it away and never look at it again.  But I think it needs to be known.  It needs to be seen.  This child needs to be seen.  In the event that someone thinks that the wrath of YHWH is too harsh.... look hard at this photo.  Anyone who thinks we are wiser and more perfect than our primitive ancestors.... look.  Look down at this child, so delicate, so tender, so defenseless.  And look what our people have done to this precious and irreplaceable creation of YHWH.

"Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!

It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Therefore all hands will be limp,

Every man’s heart will melt,

And they will be afraid.

Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them;

They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;

They will be amazed at one another;

Their faces will be like flames.

Behold, the day of the Lord comes,

Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,

To lay the land desolate;

And He will destroy its sinners from it.

For the stars of heaven and their constellations

Will not give their light;

The sun will be darkened in its going forth,

And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

“I will punish the world for its evil,

And the wicked for their iniquity;

I will halt the arrogance of the proud,

And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."

Isaiah 13:6-11

"Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;

Wail, you who minister before the altar;

Come, lie all night in sackcloth,

You who minister to my God;

For the grain offering and the drink offering

Are withheld from the house of your God.

Consecrate a fast,

Call a sacred assembly;

Gather the elders

And all the inhabitants of the land

Into the house of the Lord your God,

And cry out to the Lord.

Alas for the day!

For the day of the Lord is at hand;

It shall come as destruction from the Almighty."

Joel 1:13-15

The time for repentance is coming to an end.  Return to YHWH while there is still time.