Jeremiah 10:17-22 – Co-Mingled Tears
17
Gather up your wares from the land,
O inhabitant of the fortress!
18 For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will throw out at this time
The inhabitants of the land,
And will distress them,
That they may find it so.”
19
Woe is me for my hurt!
My wound is severe.
But I say, “Truly this is an infirmity,
And I must bear it.”
20
My tent is plundered,
And all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me,
And they are no more.
There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,
Or set up my curtains.
21
For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be scattered.
22
Behold, the noise of the report has come,
And a great commotion out of the north country,
To make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.
"Even our tears of repentance," confesses Jerry Bridges in Pursuit of Holiness, "need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb."
Should we doubt our co-mingled motives signaled by our emotional extremis, God's Word lays before us Jeremiah 10:17-22. He has been set apart by God's calling from the book's first chapter with the awareness that his people will not respond en masse. Even then, he has been faithful. Even then, he has doubled as their intercessor and a ceaseless champion of the glory of the Lord for whom he speaks.
As the Lord tells him with finality that judgment is really coming, is not going to be averted, all that is in the prophet's great heart rises to the surface. We see interspersed a solid, visionary faith which already knows what it is to be tested right alongside the gripping fear of a landholder about to be plundered and dad about to see his children suffer for their sins as well as the sins of the people from whom they spring.
Jeremiah reflects honestly that this is not a sudden reaction, but perhaps thereby it is more painful. The people, including his children, will suffer in part for sins as embedded in the culture as the scribes' and the priests' approach to Truth. They haven't been hungry for answers, have long loss there is the open Lord's glory, and have acclimated to that. What a contrast is their collective, stolid heart to Jeremiah's, quickened and broken.
Who are we, then, to criticize the more emotionally expressive? Jeremiah's is a heart open before the Lord and honest about pedestrian as well as prophetic concerns. The heart that seem steady, stately, may be in worse shape. Even when others' emotions cause us to cringe, then, we weep with those who weep. Even when we could quickly adopt the aloof attitude and accuse those we deem too concerned with the fate of particulars less than spiritual, we leave the Lord to examine and purify motives. We accuse ourselves first of not caring ENOUGH for our family and spiritual flock as we dilute these divinely ordained responsibilities with platitudes and passiveness.
Gather up your wares from the land,
O inhabitant of the fortress!
18 For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will throw out at this time
The inhabitants of the land,
And will distress them,
That they may find it so.”
19
Woe is me for my hurt!
My wound is severe.
But I say, “Truly this is an infirmity,
And I must bear it.”
20
My tent is plundered,
And all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me,
And they are no more.
There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,
Or set up my curtains.
21
For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be scattered.
22
Behold, the noise of the report has come,
And a great commotion out of the north country,
To make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.
"Even our tears of repentance," confesses Jerry Bridges in Pursuit of Holiness, "need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb."
Should we doubt our co-mingled motives signaled by our emotional extremis, God's Word lays before us Jeremiah 10:17-22. He has been set apart by God's calling from the book's first chapter with the awareness that his people will not respond en masse. Even then, he has been faithful. Even then, he has doubled as their intercessor and a ceaseless champion of the glory of the Lord for whom he speaks.
As the Lord tells him with finality that judgment is really coming, is not going to be averted, all that is in the prophet's great heart rises to the surface. We see interspersed a solid, visionary faith which already knows what it is to be tested right alongside the gripping fear of a landholder about to be plundered and dad about to see his children suffer for their sins as well as the sins of the people from whom they spring.
Jeremiah reflects honestly that this is not a sudden reaction, but perhaps thereby it is more painful. The people, including his children, will suffer in part for sins as embedded in the culture as the scribes' and the priests' approach to Truth. They haven't been hungry for answers, have long loss there is the open Lord's glory, and have acclimated to that. What a contrast is their collective, stolid heart to Jeremiah's, quickened and broken.
Who are we, then, to criticize the more emotionally expressive? Jeremiah's is a heart open before the Lord and honest about pedestrian as well as prophetic concerns. The heart that seem steady, stately, may be in worse shape. Even when others' emotions cause us to cringe, then, we weep with those who weep. Even when we could quickly adopt the aloof attitude and accuse those we deem too concerned with the fate of particulars less than spiritual, we leave the Lord to examine and purify motives. We accuse ourselves first of not caring ENOUGH for our family and spiritual flock as we dilute these divinely ordained responsibilities with platitudes and passiveness.
Throughout the pre-exilic prophetic books God rails against the shepherds who have lazily and gluttonously exploited his people and rendered them ignorant of the Law. He calls out judgment on the land for their sins. Yet, as you point out, they endure punishment "for sins as embedded in the culture" as the sins of the clergy and royalty. However, the onset of such individual transgression is shown forth by God as evil leadership. In this, we see Christ, high and lifted up, as the ruler to whom we can cling and know that his commands are good and will lead us in the way everlasting. We will not find judgment in following this leader, for God is love towards us in Christ. Even still, as I think through these things I cannot help but ponder the warning of James to leaders and teachers in the church. We must consider the weightiness of that to which we aspire in local congregations and even individual relationships to ensure that we are encouraging others to follow Christ rather than edifying our own embedded sins to them.
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