Jeremiah

Chapter 18:!9-23 (ESV) - Hear me, O LORD,
    and listen to the voice of my adversaries.
Should good be repaid with evil?
    Yet they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before you
    to speak good for them,
    to turn away your wrath from them.
Therefore deliver up their children to famine;
    give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless and widowed.
    May their men meet death by pestilence,
    their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
May a cry be heard from their houses,
    when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!
For they have dug a pit to take me
    and laid snares for my feet.
Yet you, O LORD, know
    all their plotting to kill me.
Forgive not their iniquity,
    nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.

Question to consider: What finally turned the heart of Jeremiah against Judah?

Today’s passage is rather heart-breaking. The once idealistic young man with aspirations of being a priest began this book faithfully interceding for Judah. Now after years of bringing the word of the LORD and receiving nothing in return but vitriol, mockery and death threats, Jeremiah had reached the end of his rope. Though his message of repentance was not received as “good” by the people, it indeed was. There are obviously those who relish in pointing out people’s sins to make themselves feel holy, but it’s a mistake to think that Jeremiah brought his message out of anything other than a place of love and a desire for Judah to be restored to the LORD. 

He once desired for the LORD’s wrath to turn away from Judah and give them another chance despite the fact that the people had been given hundreds of years worth of chances. Whatever pain Jeremiah felt in being spurned by the people he loved, it paled in comparison to the pain the LORD experienced at being humiliated by His bride in the place of His dwelling where He had been nothing but good to them.

The final straw which turned Jeremiah’s prayers for mercy into pleas of judgment was the knowledge that there was an actual plot to kill him. It’s one thing to receive threats. It’s quite another to have a bullet whiz by your head and realize that there was an actual plan to carry them out. I also have to think it was incredibly sad for Jeremiah to see Josiah's sons undo all that their father had done. There would have been a ray of hope in seeing Josiah's commitment for reform only to have it crushed by his murder.

I don’t blame Jeremiah for praying that the LORD withhold His forgiveness and go ahead and bring His judgment. However, Jeremiah’s prayer serves as a foil to highlight the amazing plea from Christ Jesus for the Father to forgive those who mocked Him, crowned Him with thorns, scourged Him, and nailed Him to the cross.

Judah’s time for judgment had finally come. We do not know when judgment will come upon the rest of the world, but it will. In the meantime, we praise the LORD for His long-suffering and mercy, and we continue to plead with people to repent and turn to Christ for their righteousness.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, our suffering pales in comparison to what You have endured from us for thousands of years and to what Christ endured on our behalf on the cross. May our shouts of praise drown out the mockery of the crowds. Amen.