From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight. The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. Jeremiah 32:31-32 NIV
From the highest government officials to the spiritual leaders, to the common man on the streets of Jerusalem, God’s people had sinned against him so much that God’s justice required he take action against them. What exactly had they done that aroused his anger?
They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin. Jeremiah 32:33-35 NIV
Jeremiah tells us that they walked away so far away from God that they actually sacrificed their own children in fire as an offering. That’s the problem with sin, it always takes us much farther from God and righteousness then we ever intend it to! It clouds our thinking so much that we even become capable of hurting the ones we love the most.
But here’s what I love about God: Even though he punished their sin, he never gave up on them and he never stopped loving them! Listen to what Jeremiah tells us next.
“You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.” Jeremiah 32:36-42 NIV
What a beautiful picture of God’s mercy, forgiveness and love! God actually rejoices in doing good for us and puts all his heart and soul into restoring us when we fall into sin. We are blessed to be his people!