A reason for calamities . . . ?

 

READ Jeremiah 1–4

Last week we opened two bank accounts. The manager spelled my first name incorrectly, but fixed it. Yesterday I went online and discovered only one of those accounts, probably because someone put an extra letter at the end of my last name.

Little things, yet in talking with others, we all notice an increase in incompetence, both in small stuff and larger. As I read these chapters in Jeremiah, I wondered if this increase is due to a marked decrease in obedience to God. This certainly caused life changes in OT Israel. When it happened, God used prophets to speak His mind. Hearing God’s call as a young man, Jeremiah felt inadequate for this role but was given assurance:

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch (word is similar to watching).” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.” (Jeremiah 1:11–19)

This prophet told the people that God would contend with them and with their children’s children for the nation had “changed its gods, even though they are no gods” and “their glory for that which does not profit” by “committing two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:9–13) They brought this on themselves because they had forsaken Him and turned to sinful ways. He declared: “Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you . . . .” (Jeremiah 2:17–19)

The evidence was in making gods from trees and stones and when trouble came, they asked Him to “Arise and save us.” He replied, “But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble . . . .” and they declared, “We are free, we will come no more to you.” Such was their determination to run their own lives. However, the Lord said to them:

Return, faithless Israel . . . I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful . . . . I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice . . . . Return, O faithless children . . .  for I am your master; I will take you . . . I will bring you to Zion.” (Jeremiah 3:12–14)

He adds, “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” (Jeremiah 4:1–2)

Otherwise, “Besiegers come from a distant land . . . .” the result of their rebellion, a bitter doom that “reaches their very heart” because “MY PEOPLE are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.”

Today, many of God’s people are dismayed at the mess in the world, from small levels of incompetence to large, from unthinking blunders to all-out cruelty and mayhem. Yet this reading strongly says that change begins at home, in the hearts of God’s people. Revival begins in us, not in the oblivious, not in those who openly defy God. I’m increasingly aware of the need to listen and obey, to stop pointing fingers and to allow the Lord to change me.