The Cry of God’s Heart

 Jeremiah 12:5-13 (select verses)

5 If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you fall down,
    how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?
6 For even your kinsfolk and your own family,
    even they have dealt treacherously with you;
    they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.

7 I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart into the hands of her enemies.
8 My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me—therefore I hate her….

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
    they have trampled down my portion,
they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate, but no one lays it to heart.
12 Upon all the bare heights in the desert spoilers have come;
for the sword of the Lord devours from one end of the land to the other;
    no one shall be safe.
13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
    they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their harvests
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

 The dialogue between Jeremiah and God continues in these verses. But this time it is God’s turn to respond.

Vs. 5 and 6, God speaks to Jeremiah – if you think this is tough you have not seen anything yet. If you can’t run with humans, how will you run against the gorses that are coming. In other words, get ready, worse is on its way. “The gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life,” Jesus says in Matthew 7:14. Jeremiah is told to be ready for this.

Vs. 7 and 8 show the agony God has in deciding to bring punishment on Judah. Judah is “my house”, “my heritage”, “the beloved of my heart” God says. These are words of connection, of caring, of love over the long haul. But God has made the difficult decision telling himself that he hates Judah for breaking his heart and so he brings judgement.

Vs. 10 and 11 describe how the shepherds, the leaders of Judah, have acted in ways that destroyed the nation – the destruction is both seen in human made objects being destroyed, but also creation is destroyed. In fact, creation has become the enemy of human beings who have destroyed it. (vs. 13)    

God’s answer to Jeremiah’s complaint is that the wicked will face the consequences of what they have done, but the judgement will happen on God’s timing, not Jeremiah’s. Jeremiah should concentrate on remaining faithful to God, not on what is happening to others.

We should not miss the pathos of vs 7 and 8. How painful it is for God to bring the people of Judah to account for their actions. Judgement is at times necessary, but it is not God’s first choice. God’s love for the people, for us, holds back the full exercise of his justice.

PRAYER:

O Lord our God, without you we stumble and fall, without you we are lost. Strengthen us for the narrow and hard journey. Help us to feel the cry of your heart for people to turn to follow you, a cry that comes from your love. A love which forestalls your justice, a love which weeps over the justice that will inevitably come. Teach us this love, and this cry. In Jesus’ name. Amen.