The Righteousness of God's Fury
Scripture Passage: Jeremiah 32:26-35 (NASB)
26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” 28 Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am going to hand this city over to the Chaldeans and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. 29 And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses where people have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger. 30 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight since their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares the Lord. 31 “Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath since the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from My sight, 32 because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen to accept discipline. 34 But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 35 They built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them, nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to mislead Judah to sin.
SUMMARY
God tells Jeremiah that he will hand over Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. God will allow the Babylonians to burn down all the houses in which God’s people offered sacrifices to idols. God is furious at their idolatry and disobedience, even after He had taught the people thoroughly everything they must do. God’s people continued to build shrines and commit evil deeds.
REFLECTION
God allows us to feel the sting of His wrath, and He hands us over to the consequences of our disobedience. Sometimes harsh consequences are the only thing that will humble us and bring us to repentance. As God’s children, God’s fury is actually His grace that brings us back to righteousness and humility.
Idolatry is an abominable sin that we are prone to commit over and over again. We see in the passage today that God taught his people thoroughly, yet they continued to commit idolatry, never seeming to learn. I continue to idolize people or seek their approval even though I know that God commands against idolatry for my own good. My sinful heart keeps reverting back to depending on people, desiring their affection and approval, and putting them in the place of God in my heart.
APPLICATION
When I idolize people, or overly-depend on people, I am bound to get burned. It’s because people are broken too, and my soul will never be satisfied from people. When I run into disappointing moments in relationships, I will humble myself and repent. I have to constantly check my heart and ask God to help me with my dependency and expectation from people. I have to see everything with spiritual eyes, that relationships and family are a gift from God. When God allows disappointing moments, it’s a warning call to quickly turn around and get back to a right relationship with God and my relationships with people.
PRAYER
Dear Heavenly Father,
Give me spiritual sensitivity to immediately respond with repentance when I feel the stings from dysfunction in my heart and relationships. Help me to love your people and serve them as you would want me to, but never cross the line of putting people in your place. You are my Lord, and I desire to live my life according to your standards and commands. Lead me in your righteousness. Even if the road to righteousness requires chastening and hard lessons learned, I long for righteousness and holiness.
Thank you, God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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