Day 556: If not for God - Jeremiah 30 vs 12 - 17

11 “I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will  discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

12-13 For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; 14-15 for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you.”

16 “Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey. 17 For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because  they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’” Jeremiah 30:12-17 (English Standard Version)

Many years before God spoke the above words through Jeremiah, King David wrote in a Psalm “if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was kindled against us.” (Psalm 124:2-3) That’s also a good picture of Satan's hostility and what sin does in our lives. In last week's reading from this chapter we saw in vs 11 that God was using the fierce Babylonian armies as a severe instrument of discipline on the Israelites. Why did God have to resort to such discipline? (vs 14-15)

Twice God says to them “your guilt is great, your sins are flagrant.” They had behaved arrogantly towards God and brazenly broken His good commandments. Not just now and then, but over and over again. What was the result of their chosen sinful lifestyle? (vs 12-13)

They were like a person on the roadside who’d been battered near to death, or someone who'd been diagnosed with a terminal illness. They were also like someone who had been completely forsaken by those he or she thought were their friends. What a picture that is of anyone who has gone far into the depths of sin.

Now it's true that this picture may not outwardly reflect everyone who rejects God. Many who care nothing for God may live decent lives and be quite successful and well. It sounds more like a picture of someone whose life has been wrecked by drugs or gang violence. But we need to keep in mind Jesus' words to the 'respectable' people of His day. He said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like  whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)

The condition of anyone who has done wrong, whether in big ways or little ones, is well described by the prophet Isaiah when he said: “We've all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you.” (Isaiah 64:6-7) It's bleak picture indeed. But what is the joyful message of vs 16-17?

God said He would deal with Israel's enemies who had plundered them and mocked their helpless condition, and then He Himself would heal their wounds. Israel had been set aside for God and He would not forsake them. And that is true of everyone who belongs to Jesus Christ. Christians are also people who were helpless through sin, but in Jesus Christ they have been made whole. If it were not for God we would have perished without any hope. But in Christ, even our flagrant sins have been washed away, and our guilt has been dealt with. Hallelujah.