May 30th, 2011
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

God's Servants

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Opening Prayer

Spirit of the living God, I pray You’ll grant me a right faith, a sure hope, and a perfect love.

Read JEREMIAH 25:1-38

[1] The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. [2] So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: [3] For twenty-three years-from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day-the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. [4] And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. [5] They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. [6] Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.” [7] “But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.” [8] Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, [9] I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. [10] I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. [11] This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. [12] “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever. [13] I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. [14] They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.” [15] This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. [16] When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” [17] So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: [18] Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and cursing, as they are today; [19] Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people, [20] and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); [21] Edom, Moab and Ammon; [22] all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; [23] Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; [24] all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert; [25] all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; [26] and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other-all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too. [27] “Then tell them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.’ [28] But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it! [29] See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.’ [30] “Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: “‘The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. [31] The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,'” declares the LORD. [32] This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.” [33] At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere-from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. [34] Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery. [35] The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock no place to escape. [36] Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture. [37] The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD. [38] Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the LORD’s fierce anger.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Sin may have consequences with which we must live for the rest of our lives, but sin repented of can only work for our ultimate good” (David Roper).

Think Further

This chapter concerns sweeping movements in history and in the lives of peoples. It is not hard, on a theoretical level, to see the hand of God in such things; it is harder, though, to see ourselves in great events. Yet Jeremiah, having dealt with the leaders (chs. 22-24), directs his opening words at “all the people of Judah … and all those living in Jerusalem” (1,2). The exile facing Israel is partly the result of ordinary folk failing to hear the word of God (4). Leaders bear a heavy responsibility for wise and moral leadership, but great crises also result from the cumulative effects of small disobedience. When we fill with righteous indignation as we read the newspaper, we do well to ask how our own attitudes and priorities may contribute to the evil of which we read.

As a result of this collective guilt, God unleashes the empire of Babylon against the people of Judah. The cause and effect of international events do not yield to simple explanations, but they are not outside the purposes of God. Driven though Nebuchadnezzar was by his own impulses to expansion and tyranny, he could not escape also being God’s “servant” (9). Do we dare to see political leaders today—from the developed and developing worlds—in these terms as we pray for the nations?

Yet those who are used in God’s purposes are not excused from accountability for the evil they propagate. They, too, face their time of judgment, as did Nebuchadnezzar. For their evil does not quickly abate once it is spent, just as Nebuchadnezzar’s actions unleashed chaos in the surrounding nations (17-26). Yet, somehow, even then the hand of God works in judgment (30-38), and even then we are each driven back by our own failures to hear again the word of God.

Apply

Pray for a leader in world affairs, that he or she might be a good servant in God’s hands.

Closing prayer

Lord, I pray You will empower me to repent of sin in my life, to purify the good, and to be in step with the Spirit in my daily living.

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