Friday 21st August
Read Jeremiah 4:23-26
“I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty;
and at the heavens,
and their light was gone.
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;
all the hills were swaying.
25 I looked, and there were no people;
every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;
all its towns lay in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.” (NIVUK)
Jeremiah is overwhelmed. He knows what is coming and he knows its significance. But to make it clear to those reading his words, or listening to them, he describes what he sees happening. It is cosmic in scope. He looked (23) and looked (v24) and looked (v25) and looked (v26). He could not look away. Behold creation itself was unwinding before his eyes.
It is no coincidence that the earth was formless and empty (v23), and the heavens devoid of light (v23), the land was shaking and wobbling (v24) and the sky was no longer filled with birds (v25). Finally, the pinnacle of the creation story, the arrival of humanity to fill the earth and subdue it, is completely reversed (v25). Ruined, empty towns before the unrelenting wrath of God (v26).
What does it mean? God’s hopes and plans for creation are unwound at the faithlessness of His people. It seems overwrought and yet their faithlessness does indeed remove hope for creation. Creation’s fulfilment is bound up with faithful people.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:18-21) (NIVUK)
