8"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery,swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD. 12Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer 14therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. -Jeremiah 7 (ESV)
I've been reading Jeremiah lately. It can be hard to read because it is so full of these proclamations of coming tragedies. It can be hard to read because of the conviction it can bring, because of the myriad of things it points out. But I love this book so far (haven't ever read it all; only about 9 chapters in). It's not vicious. Through all the punishments spoken over this people, God's longing saturates all of it. God longs for his people to listen to him, to return to him, to walk with him (see Jer 7:22-24, 9:24, also Micah 6:8 Revelation 2:4-5, to name a few). God recalls fondly of the former days, and mourns the loss of those days. God remembers what happened at Shiloh--and invites Judah to remember it as well. As with all the prophets, the message is not one of predetermined doom. Rather, it is a message of warning, of offered hope and grace. The punishments are never absolute, and the message is one written to turn God's people back to him. I love how God's emotions are so intertwined in this prophet's writings. Throughout it all, God asks in mourning and anguish, Why have my people left me? Are they such that they would follow other gods--and then come back to my house and tell me that they love me?? Oh, that you would repent and return to me! Why have they ignored me? I have sent them prophets, I have called to them, but they do not respond to me!
I am so grateful for the Word given to us so that we can know the heart--this longing, aching, desperate heart!-of God.
