Slices
Prepare
Spend a few moments quietly giving to God anything which might distract your thoughts and asking for a sensitivity to what he wants to say to you today.
Bible passage
Not one is upright
5 ‘Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
I will forgive this city.
2 Although they say, “As surely as the Lord lives,”
still they are swearing falsely.’
3 Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.
4 I thought, ‘These are only the poor;
they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the requirements of their God.
5 So I will go to the leaders
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
the requirements of their God.’
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great
and their backslidings many.
7 ‘Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I supplied all their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing for another man’s wife.
9 Should I not punish them for this?’
declares the Lord.
‘Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?
10 ‘Go through her vineyards and ravage them,
but do not destroy them completely.
Strip off her branches,
for these people do not belong to the Lord.
11 The people of Israel and the people of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to me,’
declares the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord;
they said, ‘He will do nothing!
No harm will come to us;
we will never see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are but wind
and the word is not in them;
so let what they say be done to them.’
14 Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says:
‘Because the people have spoken these words,
I will make my words in your mouth a fire
and these people the wood it consumes.
15 People of Israel,’ declares the Lord,
‘I am bringing a distant nation against you –
an ancient and enduring nation,
a people whose language you do not know,
whose speech you do not understand.
16 Their quivers are like an open grave;
all of them are mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvests and food,
devour your sons and daughters;
they will devour your flocks and herds,
devour your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
the fortified cities in which you trust.
18 ‘Yet even in those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not destroy you completely. 19 And when the people ask, “Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?” you will tell them, “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.”
Explore
God still looks for a way to avoid judgement, for just one person who will focus on truth (v 1), but in vain. The people no longer belong to God (v 10; see Hosea 1:9). The things which stand out are their stubbornness (v 3), complacency and self-deception (v 12), encouraged by false prophets who speak what the people want to hear (v 13). By contrast God’s word gets things done (v 14). There is an ironic sense of the punishment fitting the crime (v 19).
Our first reaction is to be horrified by the behaviour of these people. How can they turn away from God, the only source of life? How can they ignore all the warnings? But our hearts have the same seeds of self-centredness and wilfulness. There will be judgement and it will start with the people of God (1 Peter 4:17).
This is a bleak picture. But there is still a chink of light, a hint of hope (v 18). Later in Jeremiah we shall meet beautiful descriptions of restoration which point to the hope we have in Jesus, who frees us from the fear of judgement (1 John 4:18) by taking it for us.
Respond
Ask God to show you any areas of your life in which you are trying to run things yourself. Recommit yourself to doing things God’s way and ask for his help.
Deeper Bible study
Darken the room in which you find yourself. Close your eyes. Experience the limitations, the oppression of the absence of light. Invite the Lord to enter.
God sets Jeremiah a task. He is to scour the streets of Jerusalem for someone, just one person, who does justice and seeks for truth. What does he find? He discovers arrogance among those who wield power (vs 3,5) and ignorance among the uneducated (v 4). There is rampant, depraved immorality (vs 7–9) and complacency that God will do nothing (v 12). Finally, there is the root cause: the serving of foreign gods in the land God has given. God’s response through Jeremiah’s voice is like a flame-thrower. An invader will come and lay waste the kingdom of Judah.
Yet, in this judgement, there exist two glimmers of light. First, there is the sense that God longs to pardon his disobedient people (vs 1,7). He is a God who is both righteous and loving. He can abide no disobedience, no rejection, no evil, but he longs for his people to return to him. He wants a mutual, loving relationship. That is his nature. Second, there is the indication that destruction will not be total: ‘do not destroy them completely’ (vs 10,18). He will not eradicate Judah.
This commentary was written during a period of deep global darkness. On the one hand, the pandemic threatens every nation. On the other, insurrection has taken place in what were deemed stable democracies. In addition, the Christian faith is under threat worldwide from ignorance, complacency and greed. Yet God has not changed. He is not asleep. He is not detached from his creation. While his righteous judgement condemns, his merciful love, demonstrated in Jesus, stretches to every corner. ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.’1
Hold up before God five people – local, national or international figures – who you believe are doing justice and seeking truth. Pray that they may be lights in the darkness.
1 John 1:5, GNB
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 1–3; Mark 9
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Appeals and Legacies Manager Kathy Brooks as she communicates with supporters, external companies and suppliers and SU colleagues to raise funds in a variety of ways.