THEY COULD NOT BLUSH

" . . . they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush . . . " (Jeremiah 6:15; 8:12)

When the children of Israel committed great sins, doing the very things the Lord said He hated, and for which they were judged, "they were not at all ashamed." When a sense of disgrace should have gripped their hearts, they went on in their pride, oblivious of the reprehensible nature of their conduct. The prophet said, "neither could they blush." Oh, what a dreadful state! Adam and Eve were "ashamed" when they sinned (Gen 2:25). When Ezra was aware of the greatness of Israel's trespass, he said "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee" (Ezra 9:6). When Job was stricken with the fact he had questioned God, he said, "I abhor myself," even though he had committed no sin (Job 42:6). On one occasion, God judged Israel because they "refused to be ashamed" (Jer 3:3). Make no mistake about it, sin can so harden a person that they lose all sense of shame, and cannot blush. Rather than seeing their flesh as a handicap, they "glory in their shame" (Phil 3:19). That would be something like Adam and Eve strutting naked before the Lord after they had sinned. Their tenderness would not allow them to do so–they were ashamed and blushed. We can judge how close we are to the Lord, and how sensitive we are to Him, by what it takes to make us "blush." The speed with which shame comes upon men when they sin, indicates how large the gap is between them and God. Be sure of this, faith will produce a tenderness of heart that will generate quick reactions to both good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. Good hearts have good reactions! May it never be said of us, "they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush."