Jeremiah’s Question for God
At the end of chapter 11, Jeremiah was led away like a lamb to be
slaughtered. God saved him. God spared him. So Jeremiah is wise to declare God’s
righteousness in the beginning of the chapter.
However, this doesn’t mean that Jeremiah isn’t left questioning. Jeremiah feels the need to question God’s justice. Surely God is righteous; but is a God who
allows the wicked to prosper just?
This is really a question that we all will struggle with from time
to time. As we wrestle with our faith,
every single one of us will come across a question like this from time to
time. We cannot help but realize that
wickedness seems to abound in this world.
So what is God’s answer to this?
Is God just when so much evil seems to exist in the world?
God’s Answer
First things first. Before
we even get to the answer, God puts Jeremiah in His place. I’ve heard it said that we shouldn’t be
afraid to challenge God. We shouldn’t be
afraid to get angry with God if that’s really how we feel. In principle, I absolutely agree. If we are angry with God, He already knows
it. So we might as well get it out,
right? What can we say in our words that
he hasn’t already heart in our heart?
On the other hand, when we are honest with God we had better
accept that God is going to be honest right back with us. So we should only challenge God with how we
are truly feeling as long as we are prepared to truly receive back from
God. That’s exactly what happens here
with Jeremiah. Jeremiah questions God’s
justice. God replies honestly.
God’s reply is simple. If
Jeremiah is so worn out by the persecution Jeremiah is getting from the rest of
the Hebrew people, how on earth will he tolerate being under the Babylonian
captivity? If Jeremiah is finding it difficult
keeping up with people who have at least heard about God, how will Jeremiah
ever survive in a nation where God’s name is not known or even cared
about? If Jeremiah is wearied by the
prosperity of evil in Israel, how much more will Jeremiah be wearied by the
prosperity of evil in the rest of the world!
Let me put a spin on this from the opposite angle. If Jeremiah was questioning God in his
current circumstances, imagine how hard it must be to follow God in Gentile
lands! If Jeremiah could only believe in
God’s justice when things went well for Him, then how is anyone to ever believe
God is just? {Of course, I do have to wonder how “well” things are going for
Jeremiah. But then again, maybe that’s
part of my problem. Maybe as a human I
have too much trouble focusing on the bad.}
The real answer to life is to step back and trust in God’s justice
regardless of this current situation. We
must trust in things we cannot see. We
must trust in God’s justice in things we cannot understand. Our faith and our spirituality must transcend
this world or else it will always be threatened by this world.
God’ Timing
As the verses that finish the section of poetry indicate, God has
already judged the Hebrew people. They
are not going to prosper. They are not
going to thrive. They are going into
captivity. The decision has already been
made. God has already forsaken them to
the Babylonians.
You see, here is the problem.
We see in the present. We might
occasionally see into the near-future (foreseeable future). But we seldom if ever see into the real
future. We certainly cannot see into the
eternal. We can’t see what God is truly
doing. We cannot see where God is truly
bringing judgment. We can only see the
prosperity of evil in the present rather than the truth of justice in the
future.
Monday I had the opportunity to preview a series on the book of
Revelation with a good spiritual friend.
As I was previewing some of the content, the speaker made an incredible
statement. I was blown away by the truth
and the simplicity of it all that I have to share it here.
The speaker on the video was talking about the battle between Good
and Evil. He said – I paraphrase – “most
of the world feels as though the fight against evil is futile because it
appears that evil is strong and that evil is winning. But the reality is that evil seems strong
because it knows it is losing. It’s time
until judgment is ever-drawing shorter and shorter. The less time that remains until judgment,
the harder evil will fight. Thus, we
should not roll over to the power of evil but we should resist it because we
also know that its time is short.”
I found this perception really enlightening. So often it feels like evil is winning on
every side. So often I feel like
Jeremiah at the beginning of this chapter and wonder what God is doing because
it feels like evil is winning everywhere.
But in reality I need to remember that evil is ultimately losing. Every day lived is a day closer to when evil
loses forever. The harder evil seems to fight,
the less time remains until God judges evil and does away with it.
We share in Jeremiah’s struggle. But the problem isn’t that evil is winning;
the problem is that our perspective readily loses sight of the fact that evil
is on the verge of losing permanently.
Another Warning
Really quickly before ending the study of this chapter, let me
point out the final words. To the nation
that turns and listens to God, they will be built up. But any nation that refuses to listen will be
plucked up and destroyed. I think it is
important to not skip over those verses today.
God’s Word is pretty clear. There
is an ability to repent. We should not
miss it. The consequences for missing
our opportunity to listen to God are dire.
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