Saturday 22nd August
Read Jeremiah 4:27-28
“This is what the Lord says:
‘The whole land will be ruined,
though I will not destroy it completely.
28 Therefore the earth will mourn
and the heavens above grow dark,
because I have spoken and will not relent,
I have decided and will not turn back.’” (NIVUK)
Throughout the previous chapter the constant refrain echoed, repent, return, come back…but the people were not for turning. It is horrifying then to hear these words after such dire description of the fate in store for the unrepentant people. God is not for turning either. He has spoken and will not turn back. Their sin has destroyed them. Jeremiah captures the anguish in his own heart, a heart that reflects God’s own (v19).
A people forsaken, creation dimmed.
There was another who was not for turning either. Another whose anguish was on display to the cosmos. In the garden, Jesus asked if there be any other way to avoid the horrifying fate before Him and heard only the silence of God. The unrelenting judgment of sin, our sin, would fall on him.
“At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’).” (Mark 15:33-34) (NIVUK)
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (Hymn 271) – Hymnology (Official Video)
