Cling To God

The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water. I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on. A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus: Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing and go now to the Parath; there hide it in a cleft of the rock. Obedient to the LORD’s command, I went to the Parath and buried the loincloth.

After a long interval, the LORD said to me: Go now to the Parath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there. Again, I went to the Parath, sought out and took the loincloth from the place where I had hid it. But it was rotted, good for nothing!

Then the message came to me from the LORD: Thus says the LORD: So also, I will allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem. This wicked people who refuse to obey my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts, and follow strange gods to serve and adore them, shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing. For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty. But they did not listen. (Jeremiah 13:1-11)

I suppose we men are to wear loincloths clinging to our loins thereby demonstrating that we cling to the LORD.  We are not to bury them in the clefts of rocks. In other words, we are not to allow the pride of Catholicism to rot, the great pride of the Church. We wicked people who refuse to obey the Lord’s words, who walk in the stubbornness of our hearts, and follow strange gods [money, power, and privilege] to serve and adore them, are like that loincloth which is good for nothing – unless we keep wearing them symbolic of clinging to God.  

I’d rather cling to God in a more meaningful way.  First, my wearing a loincloth would not be becoming.  Secondly, appearances can be deceiving so a loincloth might be a shallow and meaningless demonstration of how I cling to God.  Prayer is a far better alternative.  Treating people with kindness and compassion is even better.  

Listening to the words of the Lord and applying what we hear to our behavior and way of life helps us cling.  We abandon our wicked ways and especially our stubborn hearts.  The only thing we need to bury are grievances and hatchets we hold over other people though our hard-heartedness. 

Everything that is good for nothing should be discarded and thrown away.  Everything of worth associated with love must be embraced and clung to such as valued friendships especially the one we have with the Lord.

Deacon David Pierce