July 14, 2024 - Jeremiah 3-6

Jeremiah describes the idolatrous nation:  “You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me?  declares the Lord” (3:1).  Furthermore, the Lord thought to himself, “’After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return” (3:7).   Amazingly, to unfaithful, disloyal Israel the Lord still calls out to the people, “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return” (4:1).  And so, here we are:  a “foolish and senseless people” (5:2), a people with “a stubborn and rebellious heart” (5:21), they do not acknowledge their God though he gives the seasonal rains that they might prosper (5:24), “they know no bounds in deeds of evil” (5:28).  Indeed, “an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land” (5:30).

In the oracles of other prophets are constant reminders of God’s patience and mercy and grace extended to treacherous peoples and to peoples who consistently refuse to turn to God.  But Jeremiah asks, “What will you do when the end comes?” (5:31).  One of the most frightening statements or questions found in the entire Bible.  Our response to the question should be:

Let Thy grace surround me still,

And like a bulwark prove

To guard my soul from every ill,

Secured by Sovereign love.   –Isaac Watts (1740)