God’s Anger
We must be careful to not read the verses in this second chapter
with an eternal mindset. When Jeremiah
speaks about God rejecting His people and taking them out of His right hand,
Jeremiah hasn’t forgotten God’s promise to restore them. If we read Jeremiah’s words with an eternal
mindset it seems like Jeremiah has forgotten God’s promise of restoration.
However, if we read Jeremiah’s words with a temporal mindset then
we can see the truth. At this moment in
time, God had cast down the splendor of His people. At this moment in time, God had sent His
people away. He has swallowed up the
places given to the Hebrew people. His wrath
and judgment have fallen upon His people.
For the moment, the life of the Hebrew people looks rather bleak.
Enemy
Verse 5 caused me to stop and think for a moment. The Lord has become like an enemy. That’s one of the most hopeless verses in the
Bible. I cannot imagine the Lord as my
enemy. Granted, I know that in our
sinfulness we are all enemies of God – myself included. But I can’t imagine the Lord as my
enemy. I can’t imagine facing life
without the Lord’s voice and will guiding me.
What a hopeless fate.
Of course, I am faced with the realization that this is actually
how much of the world lives. Those who
have actively turned away from God have made an enemy of God. Imagine facing sickness without the promise
of God. Imagine facing sorrow without
God. Imagine facing fear without
God. Imagine facing loneliness without
God. Imagine facing this self-centered
dog-eat-dog world without God. It is
rather unfathomable. Yet it is how much
of the world lives.
In the hopelessness of this verse there is the call of the
Spirit. There will be a remnant. There will be faithful people in the
world. They must be found. They must be identified and taught. They must be encouraged and exhorted. In the face of the hopelessness of life
without God, we have a job to do. We
should live with a passion to show as many people as possible why life with God
as an enemy is undesirable!
Scorn
Then we get to verse 7. The
Lord has scorned His altar. This verse
is almost as hollow as the opening to verse 5.
The Lord has scorned His altar.
The Lord has scorned the very place that was thought of as His own
dwelling place. What an incredible
amount of rejection must have happened on behalf of the people for God to scorn
His own temple.
I wonder what would bring the Lord to scorn the place of His
worship. But I know. We’ve read about it in 1 & 2 Kings. We looked at it pretty intently in Jeremiah
and Isaiah. What leads to the Lord
scorning the place of His worship?
People who do not follow His ways.
People who profess to know Him as Lord but whose hearts are not inclined
to Him. People who stubbornly refuse to
humble themselves before Him. People who
substitute their own glory for His glory.
The Lord desires genuine worship.
The Lord desires a broken spirit and a contrite heart. The Lord desires knowledge and relationship
with Him. He doesn’t desire empty
sacrifices, rote behavior, and meaningless phrases uttered by lips that are
just going through the motions.
Spiritual Challenge
How about verse 14? Want to
know the fast track to the Lord scorning His altar and the Lord making Himself
an enemy of the people? Verse 14 gives
us the answer.
When spiritual leaders see false and deceptive visions, we’re on
the wrong path. When our spiritual
leaders stop pointing out our iniquity, we’re on the wrong path. When our spiritual leaders pronounce oracles
that are misleading we’re on the wrong path.
This verse is really hard.
Don’t we like to hear “peace be with you?” Don’t we like to hear, “God loves you just
the way you are?” Don’t we like to hear,
“Don’t worry; be happy?” But when we
hear those things, so often it isn’t for our own benefit.
I hate to say it this way, but we don’t need spiritual leaders who
will say things that will make us happy.
Granted, we don’t need spiritual leaders who constantly make us angry,
either. What we need are spiritual
leaders who can speak truth into our lives.
We need spiritual leaders who can encourage us in our strengths. We need spiritual leaders who can challenge
us in our weaknesses. We need spiritual
leaders who can help us grow by pushing us ever so slightly out of our own
personal comfort zone. We need spiritual
leaders who can see us through the eyes of God – for better and for worse.
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