QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Opening Prayer
Lord, I do struggle with some of the things that I see around me.
Read JEREMIAH 12:1–17
Jeremiah’s Complaint
12 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?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
3 Yet you know me, Lord;
you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
4 How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”
God’s Answer
5 “If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
6 Your relatives, members of your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.
7 “I will forsake my house,
abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
into the hands of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has become to me
like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.
9 Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.
11 It will be made a wasteland,
parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.
12 Over all the barren heights in the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
from one end of the land to the other;
no one will be safe.
13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
14 This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. 15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How defiant must Judah have been for God to consider her as a hostile lion in the forest roaring against him (8)?
Have you ever talked to someone who was really worried because they had serious questions about what God was doing in some situation but felt that they couldn’t or shouldn’t mention those questions because that would constitute a betrayal of God? Or maybe you have felt that way yourself! This chapter reminds us that God can cope with any question we might raise and is not irritated when we ask them.
There is no hint that Jeremiah is criticized because he is struggling a bit with his circumstances. He has spent a long time and spoken many words trying to convince Judah that if she fails to fulfill her covenant responsibilities, she will face destruction. But for all appearances these degenerates are actually having a great time! The NIV titles the first section “Jeremiah’s complaint,” but maybe “struggle” would be a better term. Habakkuk, who almost certainly knows Jeremiah and perhaps has heard some of Jeremiah’s words before writing his own book, shares the same kind of problems and openly engages God about them.
If our relationship with God is authentic, we must be able to dialogue with him honestly, sharing our difficulties, raising our questions, and being willing to anticipate his answers. Prayer is often qualified as containing praise, confession, thanksgiving or intercession, or a combination. However, if we take the prayers of the prophets and the psalmists seriously, it seems that we should also include sharing with God our own questions and struggles. We may sense his answer as something like “Hang in there; trust me, it will become clear in the end,” but it will never be, “Why are you asking me a question like that?!”
Apply
In your prayers over the next week, bring to God anything you don’t understand. It will probably help if at least once you pray with another person.
Closing prayer
Lord, thank You for accommodating us so as to allow us to approach You and even remonstrate with You, as Your prophets of old did.
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