Jeremiah 44:20-23
(20) Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer:
(21) "As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into his mind?
(22) The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
(23) It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day."
In the previous verses the people lamented how badly their lives had gone since they stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven. They figured that all the calamity had come upon them because of this. Jeremiah had to straighten them out.
I think that it is easy for us to get into the mindset of God as a cosmic traffic cop. We think that we can make Him do what we want based on how we perform. We also think that we can escape consequences of sin if we just stop sinning. These people lived in wanton idolatry and stopped when they began to be consumed by the Babylonians. They figured that stopping the idolatry would make the Babylonians go away. What they failed to consider is that the exile was the consequence of their idolatry.
For us on this side of the cross we must remember that there are consequences to sin. Yes, there is grace and forgiveness at the cross. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. However, there are still consequences we must deal with. Maybe it's an unwanted pregnancy. Maybe it's bankruptcy from poor stewardship. Maybe it's a loss of health from gluttony or drunkenness. Ultimately we will enjoy salvation, but we still need to deal with the consequences.
The good news is that it is never too late to start doing the right thing. We must repent and believe.
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2 comments:
Wasn't this passage just a way of underscoring the point that God only punished them because He loved them, and because they were his? In other words, isn't the point that if they had *never* made offerings, then God might not even care about them enough to punish them for the subsequent sin?
Yes, God punished them because He ultimately loved them. However, I don't think that they would have been sent into exile had they not committed such gross idolatry. Of course, whether you take a "middle knowledge" approach or not, God in His sovereignty knew that they would not keep their side of the covenant. That much was plain from way back in Deuteronomy.
My point in this post was just to illustrate that there are consequences for our idolatry. Making a show of turning back to God doesn't help unless our hearts turn as well.
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