June 13, 2001
"Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs,
yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man's wife.
Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Jeremiah 5:7-9
Jeremiah wrestled with the message that he was to bring to the people, in vs. 1-2 of chapter 5 God gives him an opportunity not unlike the one Abraham asked for in saving the people of Sodom. In vs. 3-6 Jeremiah has to admit defeat in his task.. he cannot find any righteous people even among the leaders who ought to have known better. The verses above are God's response to Jeremiah's failed quest. It's the final/closing argument and there is nothing to be said.... God is absolutely justified in his judgement and actions. What continually amazes me and moves my heart is that God doesn't completely give up on his people. He is allows their punishment because it has a specific purpose, it's not because he's tired of them or just wants to punish them. He will not give up on them... he allows only enough to wake them up to their condition. He only wants them to see:
"Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I will not destroy you
completely. And when the people ask, `Why has the LORD our God done all
this to us?' you will tell them, `As you have forsaken me and served
foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land
not your own.'
"Announce this to the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD.
"Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
they have turned aside and gone away.
They do not say to themselves, `Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.'
Your wrongdoing's have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
Jeremiah 5:18-25
God is concerned that their sin is depriving them of good, of knowing him, of being in a relationship with him where they can be at peace and enjoy all that he has planned for them. He never ever gives up on them!