Jeremiah 1-5
(4:19) "Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain."
This morning I was struck, bitterly struck, by the first chapters of Jeremiah. Let me explain.
(basic summary: Israel was the favored child of God, they gave up that position to seek fake gods)
When I understand first and foremost, the intense power it took to create me...The vast insight and creativity to form me...The sheer greatness of the act of my creation...And the diligent, tender care with which God oversees his people...All the words of God begin to come into focus much more clearly.
(2:7a) I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce...
(2:21a) I had planted you like a choice vine of sound a reliable stock...
Having taken that knowledge of my inception, it is a piercing blow to my heart, reading the first chapters of Jeremiah. I can empathize with the fierce anger that burns within God at seeing his people turn from Him. It is as if they, ignoring His presence in the room, turn and give credit of their blessed circumstances to another. How rude! How horrible! How traitorous! To further condemn them in their acts of disloyalty, it's not just any other they turn to, but one who is so far below the stature of God! It would be like thanking the fly in the window on the morning of December 25th for all the Christmas gifts you receive!
It is a preposterous thought, an insane and ridiculous notion, but Israel has committed this sin again and again!
(2:11-12) Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror," declares the Lord.
(2:27a) They say to wood, 'You are my father,' and to stone, 'You gave me birth.'
(2:19b) Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me," declares the Lord, the Lord almighty.
Having given credit where it is NOT due, they were comfortable in this sin. They refused to acknowledge wrong-doing. They stayed in their wickedness, they settled in, they made a home there.
(2:25b) ...But you said, 'It's no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.'
The time came, however, when things turned sour. Their childish ignorance turned to childish tantrums. They wanted God to save them, console and comfort them, just like old times. Israel raged against God, they ignorantly forgot their wayward lives, their rebellious history of stinking sin. They were blind as moles...Content to play in the dirt till it suited them no longer. They pitied themselves, crying out for saving; wailing, turning bitter and casting accusations upon their God.
(2:27b) ...yet when they are in trouble, they say, 'Come and save us!'
(2:29) "Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me," declares the Lord.
Listen to how God sees the His beloved acting...
(2:23b-24) You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving---in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.
(2:33) How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
(3:2b) Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
(3:2c) By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers...
(3:3b) Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.
Over and over again, Israel is described as the most heinous of philanderers, the most putrid of whores...
And then He says, "Return to me." God just decides to redeem them. They turn from their idols and repent. They weep and cry out in anguished repentance, and God takes them back.
(3:12) ..."Return, faithless Israel,' declares the Lord, 'I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,' declares the Lord, 'I will not be angry forever...
During this process of calling them back to Him, he gives promises of safety, prosperity, and righteousness.
Israel is willfully disrepectful and unfaithful, and God leaves them to the just reward of their sins (for a time). The story ends, though, with salvation, redemption, a returning to their first love: God.
He is a righteous judge and an extreme lover.
It is the most tremendous of logical paradoxes: Just and Loving??? Israel destroyed every miniscule bit of credibility they had with the Lord, grinding it to dust, and yet...And yet He chooses them in the midst of their clothes stained with lust, their homes filled with abominations, and their lives saturated in sin.
Doesn't His furious love just make you wanna weep?...
Sorry to write longer than normal, but I felt "the heat" (that biting urge to write, inspired with passion and zeal and angst). I hope you read it and were touched. May God bless you with increased understanding of His Love for you.
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