Jeremiah’s Complaint
1 You are always righteous, O LORD,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
3 Yet you know me, O LORD;
you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
4 How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”
God’s Answer
5 “If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
6 Your brothers, your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.
7 “I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.
9 Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.
11 It will be made a wasteland,
parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.
12 Over all the barren heights in the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the LORD will devour
from one end of the land to the other;
no one will be safe.
13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
So bear the shame of your harvest
because of the LORD’s fierce anger.”
14 This is what the LORD says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. 15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. 16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the LORD.
My Understanding: Jeremiah asked God a question that has been asked throughout life on this earth, I believe, and that is “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?” Or, it could be asked, “Why does God allow evil?” “Why do bad things happen to good people and yet those who do evil tend to prosper and have nothing bad happen to them?” It seems as though God allows injustice to take place to those who truly follow him, by allowing them to go through such difficult times, and yet those who are truly wicked seem to be successful in whatever they do. Where is the justice in all of this? This was Jeremiah’s question, and I am certain many of us have had the same or similar thoughts as these at one time or another. Jeremiah had been called to be a prophet of God to give messages of impending judgment, yet the people who were living wickedly were saying that God doesn’t see, so Jeremiah was distraught over the cavalier attitudes of the people, as well. He did not understand God’s slowness in bringing upon the people the judgments he had been warning the people about.
God answered Jeremiah by letting him know that things were going to get worse. If Jeremiah could not handle what he was suffering now, and if he could not endure the people’s reproach now, then how was he going to endure and overcome his circumstances when things got a whole lot worse? God confirmed, as well, that even Jeremiah’s own family members were against him and had betrayed him. Most of us, I think, when going through difficulties, want someone to encourage us, to console us, and to try to make us feel better, but that isn’t always what is best for us. Jeremiah needed a dose of reality, and he needed his circumstances put into perspective. He had an awesome task before him as God’s messenger of judgment, and God had no time to play around with Jeremiah’s feelings that he had expressed. Jeremiah must realize that what he was seeing and experiencing was only the tip of the iceberg of what faced him ahead, and he had to get prepared for that mentally, emotionally and spiritually, if he was to be used of God to be God’s messenger.
Then, God let him know, again, how he viewed his own people and what he had planned for them ahead. He used personal, intimate and affectionate terms of endearment to describe his people, so it was obvious that God loved them very much and it pained and grieved him greatly that they were continuing in their rebellion and that he would one day have to bring divine correction upon them in order to humble them and to get them to return to their God. He would have to forsake those he loved, and that pained him to do so. Even the thought of it brought much grief to his heart. Not only would he have to abandon his people by removing from them the wall of his protection that had been around them, but he would give the ones he loved into the hands of her enemies. I know, from the perspective of a parent, how painful that is to have to turn a child over to his or her enemies because he or she refuses to respond to correction, discipline and rules meant for his or her good. God did not want to have to do this, but his people left him no choice.
His people, his own inheritance, had opposed him as fiercely as a lion. In so doing, they had declared themselves to be his enemy, making known their voices against him. Thus, his turning against her would appear as hate, yet it was motivated by a heart of great love and compassion, as he so longed for his children to forsake their sins and their idols and to, instead, seek after their God to follow him all their days. God described his people here as “a speckled bird of prey.” They were of many colors, i.e. they blended worship of God with worship of idols, with spiritual adultery, and with the ways of the world and of the heathen and pagans. And, they refused to repent of their idolatry and their spiritual adultery against God, the One and Only true God. Even the leaders of the people were leading the people in the wrong direction. They did not care enough about the people to tell them the truth. They probably cared more about their own selves and wanted the people to like them more than they cared about whether or not the people were in right relationship with God.
Because of all this, God would have to bring judgment on his people, yet, when he finished using his divine instruments of judgment against his people, he would judge them, as well. Yet, in all of this, a remnant would survive. They would repent of their sins and would believe in God and God would once again have compassion on them and would bring them back to their inheritance in God - their Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, they would learn well his ways and would become his people and he would be their God. And, they would know his blessings and his peace.
It is now the year 2011. Two thousand years ago God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to the earth, took upon himself human flesh, suffered as we suffer, and was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin, so that he could become our faithful and compassionate high priest. Then, they hung him on a tree as a common criminal, although he had committed no wrong, and he took upon himself all the sins of the world. Our sins died with him and they were buried with him, yet he rose from the grave, triumphing over sin, death, hell and Satan, so that we could be free from the penalty of sin (eternal separation from God and eternal punishment in hell) and free from the control of sin over our day-to-day lives. By God’s grace to us in sending us his Son to die for our sins and through our faith in him we are saved. This faith includes within it repentance and obedience to Christ Jesus. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we then become his people and he becomes our God. We are thus true Israel, as Israel is now all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Times have not changed all that much. The above description of God’s relationship with his people then is the same as his relationship with his people now. The above description concerning God’s people’s treatment of him and of their sinful lifestyles is not all that different from his church today. And, God is still calling his people to repentance, to return to him as the Lord and Master of their lives, and he is still warning of impending judgment if they do not repent of their ways and they do not return. Yet, he is slow to anger, is patient and compassionate, not willing that any should perish. So, he will allow the wicked to prosper while the godly may seem to suffer injustice until that day when he does judge us.
Yet, in all of this, God has a plan and a purpose, and it is our job to submit ourselves to whatever he has planned for our lives. One day, I believe, he will bring judgment on the earth, he will bring revival to his church, and his people will return to him. He will bless them once again, and they will learn his ways and will follow him with all their hearts.
I pray right now that God will teach me to walk in his ways and in his truth and to learn from him now how to honor, serve and obey him in all things, even enduring injustice, if that is what is required of me to make me into the person he desires me to be so that I can be used of him for his purposes and his glory. This is the prayer of my heart:
Teach Me, Lord / An Original Work / June 12, 2011
Teach me, Lord, to walk in Your ways,
And observe all You command.
May I ever hasten to You,
And desire to not offend.
Teach me how to follow Your steps,
Gently guiding me each day.
May I love and serve You always,
Loving others, this I pray.
Teach me, Lord, to listen to You
Speaking Your words to my heart.
May I never stray from Your truth,
And from Your law ne’er depart.
Teach me how to instruct others
In the way that we should go,
Leading them by my life witness,
So that Jesus they should know.
Teach me, Lord, to be a light in
This dark world of grief and sin.
May I always care for others;
Share their burdens; help to mend.
Teach me how to share with them that
Jesus came to set them free,
So that they could be forgiven;
Live with Christ eternally.
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