Jeremiah 32:26-35

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” Therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses where people have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger. Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares the Lord. Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from before My face, because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction. But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.^[1]

It is hard to read these verses without inferring that the judgment pronounced on Israel and Judah over their sin is the same judgment pronounced over God’s people today. Israel and Judah did detestable things before the Lord and still expected God to continue to come through on their behalf. The same can be said of the people of God today. We continue to do detestable things, labor in open rebellion, are unruly and disobedience and still think there will be no consequences. In fact, if one suggests that the nation is under judgment they are quickly discredited citing the belief that God does not operate that way.

The Lord asks Jeremiah a very important question, “Is there anything too difficult for me?” It is often thought that the question was one of God’s ability, but in truth it was one of incredulity. It did not seem conceivable that God would allow His people to be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans. It was too extraordinary to imagine that God would ever do such a thing, let alone cause such a thing and yet He did. Our God is a jealous God who refuses to be the object of His people’s fickle devotion. Israel and Judah’s arrogant belief that their status as the chosen people insulated them was their downfall. Let it not be ours as well.

Dear Lord, we acknowledge our sin before You. We have lost our way and gone astray. We have flirted with strange fire and gotten burned. Forgive us of our arrogance. Forgive us for the detestable practices we have embraced. Forgive us for calling good that which You call wrong. We repent of our sin and ask You to relent from Your anger. Do not take Your presence away from us or allow our enemies to triumph over us. As we commit our ways to You, enable us by Your Spirit to overcome the desires of our flesh and walk faithfully with You. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Je 32:26–35.