Today we read more from Jeremiah, and try to find consolation from the words of the Weeping Prophet. It ain’t easy.
God has Jeremiah go to a potter and shatter a clay pot. Then God says, “I will shatter these people because of their stiff necks.”
Then a priest (A PRIEST!!!) has Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks. (No wonder he is the weeping prophet, eh?)
Jeremiah writes that he tries to hold it in. He tries really hard NOT to prophesy. But “in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in” (Jeremiah 20:9). He must speak. He must give the message from the Lord. Sadly, the message is taking its toll on Jeremiah. “Cursed be the day when I was born,” he says, almost quoting my good friend Job. “Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!” (Jeremiah 20:14).
There is more ruin still to come. God tells Jeremiah to not even intercede for the people any more. God will not hear Jeremiah, for the people will not hear God. They will choose death rather than life.
God has another object lesson. Jeremiah puts on a waistband--a belt--then takes it off and buries it. The wicked will be destroyed like the waistband. Israel was supposed to cling to God, like the waistband was supposed to cling to Jeremiah, but they did not, so they have become worthless.
There are positive words! Jeremiah 15:16 tells of the prophet’s love for God, and in 16:21 God promises that the people “shall know that My name is the LORD.”
The familiar parable about the potter and the clay comes from Jeremiah chapter 18. God has created the nation of Israel, and he has the power to “unmake” the nation as well. God reminds Jeremiah that it is the potter, not the clay, who is in charge--even if the clay doesn’t like it.
In chapter 35, the nation of Israel is compared to the small nomadic tribe of the Rechabites. They have had a few simple commands from their forefathers which they have followed to the letter. God lays into the Israelites, then, because they refuse to follow the commandment to love and serve Him only. “If this tribe can obey, then surely you can obey.”
God has words for the exiles, for by this point the city of Jerusalem has fallen and the people of Judah are in Babylon. And here I read, for the first time in context, one of my favorite verses. God says: I know that you’re in exile. You’re living in a strange land. Still, build homes there, go ahead and increase your families there, because you’re going to be there for 70 years, and then I will bring you home. Then God says, “ ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.’ ” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
Wow. I love those verses even more now.
More good news awaits in Jeremiah 31:3,11 “The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness’...For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, And redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.”
I am so thankful for the Redeemer, who loved the children of Israel in spite of their refusal to accept him, who always left a remnant to return to the Promised Land, who constantly gives promises of restoration. I am reminded that He will always love me, and that I am always welcome in His arms.
No comments:
Post a Comment