~Old Testament Scenarios~
Jeremiah
“You are always righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?”
Jeremiah 12:1 (NIV)
So Many "Whys"
Jeremiah speaks aloud what many of us have had burning in our hearts and thoughts not only today in our generation, but throughout every generation! He is not shaking his fist at God, he is simply perplexed. Each of us needs only to look at the world around us and see daily injustice.
At the time, Jeremiah was a young man of thirty when he spoke in protest with these words. Because the Lord had called him directly into ministry to prophesy to the nation of Israel at the early age of 12 or 16 years old, Jeremiah had been walking intimately with the Lord for years. He had also been the go between from the Lord to the people and the people to the Lord. Knowing the character of our God, Jeremiah trusted his inner turmoil and grief, not only over the wicked prospering, but also with his own life being threatened by those in his hometown of Anathoth. Jeremiah with his tender heart for the people also grieves over their continuing journey on the path into deeper idolatry.
Which one of us hasn’t looked through our window to see a neighbor that seems to “have it all”? You know they live with their backs to the Living God and you wonder why you live a dedicated life to the Lord and it seems like your life is falling apart? I know I have, and I have had to struggle through those thoughts by giving them to Jesus to handle for me. That is the only way I can walk out and trust Him. The Holy Spirit is there to give each of us the ability to do this.
As it was with Jeremiah, it is hard to know the unsearchable ways of the Lord. We can trust that God is not slack in His promises and that for the unbeliever; this world is the best they will ever know. For the child of God, our best days here on earth will be nothing in comparison to the glorious eternal life in heaven.
A little background of history here is the fact that the nation of Israel had split back in 930 BC - later the Northern Kingdom was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC. Jeremiah was raised up as a prophet under the good King Josiah in 626 BC. After Josiah’s death, Judah (Southern Kingdom), became subject to Egypt losing their freedom to rule themselves. A few years later both Assyria and Egypt fell under the power of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Finally, in 586 BC, Jerusalem is totally crushed and the people were deported to Babylon. Among those taken was Jeremiah who was in his late 50’s. Of course, Jeremiah (as well as other prophets) had warned the people of this impending doom (knowing Qedosh Yisrael, Holy One of Israel, and the holiness of His nature). If the people did not turn from their ways of idolatry and repent by coming back to the Lord, the consequence would be the death of their nation.
Is this what is happening to our own nation? So obvious is the insanity of a world turned upside down where injustice rules, could it be the result of having backslidden from the love of Christ and His truths? We’ve taken God out of every public place… what about the private place of our heart? Would the Lord like to see you raised up as in the example of Jeremiah, with his perseverance and his passion to see those people around you saved and living holy unto the Lord?
This is your day; God has given it to you. What will you do with it? Will you trust God to be your defender, knowing His ways are not always for us to understand? He is at work in ways we can’t even Imagine!
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)