Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails? (Jeremiah 15:18)
I have read through Jeremiah before but I don’t ever remember seeing the level of emotion that is in the book. I guess I must have read it too fast or just skimmed over the parts that didn’t make a lot of sense. Jeremiah 15 is one of those chapters that you have to read a few times. Whoa. It is an interesting dialogue.
Jeremiah ends chapter 14 by pleading with God on behalf of his nation, Judah. We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness ad the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake…Remember, do not break Your covenant with us. Jeremiah is pulling out all the stops, confessing the sins of his people, pleading for God’s mercy, asking God to remember His covenant with the nation.
God responds by basically saying, “Jeremiah, even if you were Moses and Samuel combined into one, you couldn’t stop My judgment from coming.” Then God goes on to detail the horrendous judgment that is coming on the nation. The widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the sea… (15:8).
It is not a pretty picture and one hard to fathom. Husbands will die, fathers will die, sons will die, and women will die in grief and sorrow. There is no mercy.
This is the picture of God that we do not like. I struggle with it. Where is the God of mercy and grace? Where is the God of forgiveness? Where is the God that Jonah said was a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm (Jonah 4:2)? That is the God who is easier to embrace. This is what Jeremiah is feeling. And he blurts out what is on his mind. First, he laments his birth (15:10). Then he pleads for God’s mercy in his own life, detailing all his good works in the process (15:15-17). Then he asks a stinging question of God, “Will you be like a unreliable stream to me, like a mirage, like One who looks good and refreshing but in the end offers nothing?”
It is one of those times that you say something that you shouldn’t to someone that you shouldn’t. Oops. And God immediately responds: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them” (15:19).
Get the picture? This is an intense chapter–one in which Jeremiah is wrestling with Who God is and trying to understand His judgment. In the end God basically says, “Jeremiah, I understand your struggle but now you are talking nonsense. Get your mind back on track. Trust me. Serve me. I will deliver you. You can count on that.”
I guess what hit me in this chapter is the brutal honesty of Jeremiah and the hard-hitting forthrightness of God. The gloves are off. Jeremiah is speaking his heart and God is responding in kind. It gives me a picture of the kind of communication that God desires. Forget the fluffy, pious stuff. God chooses men and women who wrestle with Him and pour out their hearts to Him in prayer. Of course, He also chooses men and women who listen to Him and are willing to align their wills with His, even when they do not totally understand.
I do not fully understand God’s judgment, but I know He is just. Judah has reached the point of no return. At this point any “repentance” is probably the repentance of a disobedient child who after defying his parents over and over suddenly, and briefly, changes his tune when it looks like he is finally going to get it. God’s judgment is coming. It can’t be stopped. But I think it is important to realize that this is judgment on the nation. The nation will suffer. The nation will be destroyed and taken into captivity. But God still sees the hearts of individuals and will preserve His remnant. He has to…not only because of His mercy but also because of His plan. It is through the nation of Judah that Messiah is coming.
Lord, when I don’t understand, help me to trust.