Jeremiah 13:16
Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
To give glory to God is to heed His word and message with humble acceptance of conviction instead of pride and refusal, and to honor Him rather than taking credit for what He enables people to do. The call is urgent, to honor Him while light still remains before darkness overtakes the feet that delay. The dark mountains are unbelief, the path chosen when people refuse to submit to Christ and to God. Those who keep refusing light will still look for light but will find only the shadow of death and gross darkness, for when conviction is trampled the mind grows dim and error takes its place. This refusal comes from fear of losing position and following leaders, from trusting one's own judgment and turning from correction, and from abandoning God's law for worldly advancement, while learning the ways of the Lord keeps the feet from stumbling on the secure way He has provided.
Meaning of the Warning
To give glory to God means to heed His word and message, humbly accepting conviction rather than answering with pride and refusal. The call is urgent, to honor Him while light still remains, before darkness overtakes and brings stumbling and captivity. When the light He has given is rejected the light in the mind grows dim and error takes its place, so that those who keep refusing still look for light but find only deeper darkness, the shadow of death and gross darkness with its consequences.
To give glory also means to honor Him rather than taking credit for what He enables people to do, for walking alone and trusting one's own judgment and turning from correction leads to stumbling. The dark mountains are unbelief, the path people choose when they refuse to submit to Christ and to God. Abandoning God's law to seek worldly advancement leads to stumbling into that unbelief and loss of strength to resist temptation, and those who have done so are described as having stumbled through unbelief in walking darkness. By contrast there is a secure way God has provided through sacrifice for the redeemed to walk each day without stumbling on the dark mountains or straying from holiness.
Refusing Light in Life
People refuse recognized truth because they fear losing their position and because they follow their leaders. Religious leaders who turn people away from truth leave God's flock scattered and captive, and that captivity brings grief that moves God's prophet to weep. Walking alone, trusting one's own judgment, and turning away from correction leads to stumbling.
Some Christian medical students, unwilling to endure ridicule for keeping the Sabbath and the fourth commandment, abandoned principle and lost their hold on God. Having let go, they became untrustworthy and vulnerable to further temptation and serious wrongdoing. In the same way, those who abandon God's law to seek worldly advancement stumble and lose strength to resist temptation.
When conviction is trampled and light is rejected, the light in the mind grows dim and error takes its place. Doubters and unbelievers who persist in doubt then stumble in spiritual darkness. Even those who believe the truth find their path difficult and their steps faltering when they enter the dangers of unbelief.
By contrast, learning the ways of the Lord keeps the feet from stumbling and straying from holiness. God has provided through sacrifice a secure way for the redeemed to walk each day. The wicked who refuse to give glory to God face a dark future with not one ray of light, dying as they lived without repentance, without hope, and without God. Even when they prosper in securing riches and have more than heart can wish, that prosperity does not avert God's retributive justice, and though pride compasses them as a chain they perish while His wrath is kindled against them.