“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time I punish them, they shall be cast down,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 6:15)

We Need People Who Blush

The prophet Jeremiah lived in the turbulent time of the waning days of God’s people. He was the last great prophet during the final four decades of the kingdom of Judah. There was no hope for Jerusalem. A brief period of hope blossomed under the reign of Josiah, but upon his death, the people of God spiraled down into moral disintegration and religious apostasy.

Judah had become a perverse people, filling their lives with the immoral decadence of the nations around them. Adultery was rampant as the people gathered in great numbers to the house of prostitution. Every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife. Worship to God was ridiculed, and false prophets abounded. There was spiritual and civil corruption. The fear of the Lord was abandoned. Judah had become a place of self-indulgent, satisfied people without limitations to their wicked deeds. The orphans are denied justice, and the poor are neglected.

God warned Judah of impending doom if they did not repent. The Lord promised to thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a man cleans his vineyard, leaving nothing. God was angry. His people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. Their indulgence in the idolatry of the nations around them had brought the swift and full measure of divine righteousness to destroy them. The northern tribes of Israel had long since disappeared because of the wrath of God. Now, the fury of the Lord was to be turned against those who remained.

The condition of the people had become so evil there was no shame in committing the immorality common for the day. Sin was good, and good was evil. Light had been turned into darkness, and the darkness to light. The people were so full of evil that they could not blush. They had no shame for what they did. Everything they did was without guilt, remorse, or fear. Evil flourished. God’s people had filled themselves with so much shame that they felt nothing. Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the garden and hid from His presence. Israel pranced around the Lord God naked and unashamed.

What makes the story of Jeremiah tragic is how the people of God can fall so far from grace. Few in the world blush or even know how to blush. Blushing is often involuntary and brought on by some type of emotional stress. This could be caused by passion, embarrassment, shyness, fear, and even anger. A person’s face turns red. The reaction is due to a psychological impulse about something that is said or done, or experienced that is uncomfortable for the person.

God looks at His people and realizes sin cannot make them blush. Men like Job feared God and stayed away from evil. Joseph refused to engage in sexual immorality with Potiphar’s wife because he recognized it as wickedness. When a man reaches the point that sinful activity does not impact his heart, he will fall prey to its devices and be destroyed. Judah had become so filled with the wickedness of the world; that sin did not bother them. They had become accustomed to the wiles of the devil.

It is easy to be lulled into a false sense of worldly security where sin is no longer an issue of blushing. The people of God must learn to blush. There must be evidence of a heart that “eschews” evil and will not permit it to be a part of a righteous life. Television has taken away the shocking ‘word’ used in the movie, “Gone With The Wind.” Blushing has now gone with the wind. Sexual immorality is so common it does not bother many, and there is no shame. Using God’s name as a curse causes few to flinch.

Holiness produces blushing. Don’t miss the point. It is not a matter of the bodily reddening of the face but the heart that needs to blush. The more time spent in the word of God, the greater the need to have a heart blushed with the righteousness of God. Learning what sin is and what sin will do will shock one at sinful behavior. Husbands and wives need to know how to blush. Parents must show their children the nobility of a blushing heart in view of God’s heart. Children need to learn to blush. Do you blush?