TUESDAY
Yesterday we briefly explored the theme of lament as a response to situations in which God seems not to fight for you. Scripture is full of stories that reveal situations in which God doesn’t seem to fight for his people.
Let’s begin with Jeremiah.
Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because he cried a lot. He wasn’t emotionally unstable or soft. He simply lamented at the state of God’s sinful people and God’s impending judgment upon them. We see him weeping in a few places in the book:
Jeremiah 9:1 (NIV) Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.
Jeremiah 13:17 (NIV) 17 If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.
Jeremiah 14:17 (NIV) 17 “Speak this word to them: “ ‘Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for the Virgin Daughter, my people, has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow.
The historical context is vital for understanding Jeremiah. Jeremiah prophesied in the late 7th and early 6th century BC. In that time the kingdom of Babylon was emerging as the greatest power in the region. Assyria and Egypt were waning. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been taken over by Assyria in 722 BC as a judgment from God. The people of Judah were following in step behind Israel. They were not following the Law of Moses. They were taking advantage of the poor and powerless. They were worshipping pagan gods and some were even sacrificing their children to pagan gods. As a result of their evil Jeremiah is called to declare God’s judgment against Judah (1:16). The judgment of God will come in the form of Babylon overtaking Judah. Unlike Isaiah and Hezekiah, Jeremiah is called to prophecy that God will not deliver Judah from Babylon and the kings should submit to Babylon. The kings and leaders of Jerusalem, of course, don’t like this message and retaliate against Jeremiah. At one point they throw him into a cistern as a form or torture because they didn’t like his message. The kings fought back against Babylon, and Jerusalem along with the temple was plundered and destroyed.
Jeremiah was called to be a bachelor all of his life (16:2). This was incredibly rare in ancient Judah. They don’t even have a word for bachelor. This was meant to be a sign to Judah that judgment is coming. There will be no wedding celebrations or birth celebrations. Why would you want to have kids when war is coming and many of them will die in battle? This symbolized that God is no longer their bridegroom. The covenant has been broken. The people of Judah have abandoned him and now he is bringing judgment. So, Jeremiah lived a very lonely life, prophesying a message of judgment and repentance that was not heeded.
In Jeremiah’s temple sermon of chapter 7 God tells him that he shouldn’t even pray for Judah. Their judgment is coming. Their sin has piled up and God is bringing his judgment.
Jeremiah 7:16, 20, 27-29 (NIV) 16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you…20 “ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched…27 “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. 28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. 29 “ ‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.
No wonder Jeremiah wept a lot! There was a lot of sad stuff in his lifetime.
This reveals that just because God has fought for us in a certain way in the past, that doesn’t mean he will do so again, in the same way, in the future. God never promised the people of Israel that he would always deliver them from their enemies. In fact God stipulates in the Mosaic Covenant that he would kick them out of the land if they violated his law. Of course, they did repeatedly and God was patient with them. But eventually he brings judgement. So God is faithful to his covenant promises.
Often times, we mistake what God has actually promised us. He has not promised us health, wealth, and ease in this life. It may be his will to deliver in one moment but not in the next. We must accept this. Our feelings of abandonment from God often stem from this misunderstanding. This is why we must know the Scripture to discern what God has actually promised us and what he hasn’t. This becomes the root of a lot of bitterness.
In the New Testament era the just judgment for the sins of God’s people has been poured out upon Jesus on the cross If you are in Christ you are no longer in danger of facing the judgment of God. However, God’s judgment is still upon those who are not in Christ. Like Jeremiah this reality is a cause for weeping and mourning. It cause to declare to the world God’s salvation in Jesus and pray for the salvation of sinners.
Christians who have been set free from bondage to sin but are still experiencing sin is another cause for weeping. Some are living in sin, willfully rejecting the way of Jesus without repentance. Some are experiencing the painful effects of other’s sins through relational disfunction or pain caused because of sinful choices. These are causes to weep for God’s people as well.
Reflection
What grieves your heart today about the brokenness of our world? Is it the unsaved, the sin and corruption in the church, your own sin, the sin of others that is harming themselves and other loved ones, or the reality that sin and death have not yet been fully defeated by Jesus.
Living in the midst of all this can leave us wondering if God is really fighting for us. Tomorrow we will see God’s message of hope even in the laments of the weeping prophet.