‘Whom have you so dreaded and feared
    that you have not been true to me,
and have neither remembered me
    nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent
    that you do not fear me?
12 I will expose your righteousness and your works,
    and they will not benefit you.
13 When you cry out for help,
    let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
    a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
    will inherit the land
    and possess my holy mountain.’

It has been said that verses 3-13 have a contemporary feel. They are, we might say, ‘a distant mirror’, reflecting our own times. What is particularly disturbing, and possibly highly relevant, is the fact that the people had no fear of God because He had withheld His judgment. They feared men, but not the Lord.

If divine judgment is delayed, we must not be deluded into thinking that it will never happen.

”The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).

God, in His mercy, regularly gives people time to get right with Him. But we must not allow God’s ‘longsuffering’ to cause us to think all will be well. When the time of judgment comes, those who trust in their idols will find no help there (13a). Only those whose faith is in God will have a secure place in His Kingdom (13b).

These remain the clear alternatives and we must choose: dead gods or the living God.