Tuesday 18th August
Read Jeremiah 4:7-10
“A lion has come out of his lair;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to lay waste your land.
Your towns will lie in ruins
without inhabitant.
8 So put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.
9 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
‘the king and the officials will lose heart,
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets will be appalled.’
10 Then I said, ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, “You will have peace,” when the sword is at our throats!’” (NIVUK)
The mismatch between the words of the ‘prophets’ proclaiming peace to Judah, a message that people would be all too happy to hear, and the inner vision Jeremiah saw and was constrained to declare, is a constant tension.
As we will discover as we work through this amazing book, Jeremiah is emotionally taut. His outbursts and commentary on his own message are filled with passion, sometimes with doubt and often with confusion.
In this instance he sees the instrument of God’s judgment descending with ravenous ferocity on the towns and villages of Judah. He hears the judgment of God that all the leaders will quake in horror despite surrounding themselves with messages of hope and peace. He is pained and filled with sorrow – for he realises that the very messages of ‘peace’ are part of the just judgment of God. The deception is complete and effective – the people believe what they want to, and long to, believe. Despite the sword at their throats.
Jeremiah’s passion is matched by Paul’s six hundred years later when he realises the blindness and stubbornness of his own people will lead to their destruction also. Jerusalem destroyed once more… “I speak the truth in Christ – I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit – 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel.” (Romans 9:1-4a) (NIVUK)
