"What Choice Did God Have?"

Scripture Passage

Jeremiah 16:1-18:23; 35:1-19

Scripture Focus

The wonderful possession I have reserved for you
     will slip from your hands.
                           (Jeremiah 17:4 NLT)

Observation

Again, seen for what it is, this is heartbreaking. God had so much planned for His people—God had so much provided for His people—and it was slipping from their hands. Not because God had somehow failed to come through on His promises…not because of “unforeseen circumstances” or “technical difficulties.” Every blessing God had supplied and wanted to supply—including the provision of His “holy mountain”—was to be given into enemy hands (please note—“given into enemy hands” not “taken by enemy hands”).

There would be something particularly poignant about this specific loss. Nothing was—or is—more sacred to Abraham’s descendents then Mt. Zion, the site of the capital city of Jerusalem and Solomon’s glorious temple. The significance of this location parallels the significance of the “Twin Towers” and the Pentagon for Americans—remember what you felt when both targeted for destruction by terrorists on September 11, 2001?

But the sins of God’s people had become so great and their stubborn rebellion so persistent that God’s hands are tied, as it were. Please—what choice did God have? His love and mercy abound, to be sure, but so does His justice! And who would want it any other way? Would we want a crooked, corrupt God who tolerated the injustice of sin indefinitely? No! As much as God sent necessary judgment, Judah chose it!

And so do we. Some protest that a truly loving God could never send anyone to a place of eternal punishment. But the truth is, anyone I’ve ever heard make that protest knew enough of the gospel message to be responsible before God for having rejected it. The reality for people who make that protest is that, if they spend eternity apart from God, He hasn’t made that choice for them—they have made it for themselves. Tell God to go away and leave you alone often enough…and eventually He will.

I can’t imagine a sadder report—for Judah, to be sure, but for us, all the more…

The wonderful possession I have reserved for you
     will slip from your hands.
                              (Jeremiah 17:4 NLT)

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P.S. It’s not the point of this blog to preach. This blog is simply a record of my devotional thoughts from day to day. But if I can serve you in any way…if perhaps “the wonderful possession God has reserved for you is slipping from your hands” and you’d like to reverse course…contact me here, please.

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