A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

In reading through Jeremiah 16, as well as looking at life in general, it seems one of our Christianese phrases may be incorrect. Let me suggest that it is possible that God’s love in not unconditional.

Consider the following: A child is demanding they get their own way. If the mother shows unconditional love, she will allow that child to do and get whatever they want. But wait! The mom instead insists on disciplining the child. Please understand that the mom is showing unconditional love in that she still loves her son even when he is being defiant and disobedient. However, she has set some conditions on her responses based on her love.

Or, how about this example? A couple have been married for over 20 years. The wife discovers her husband is committing adultery. The husband states that if the wife loves him unconditionally, she will overlook his adulterous relationship and allow it to continue, while still showing him love. Trust me, folks; there will be and should be conditions set up in this situation.

Let’s come closer to home. Consider our relationship with God as a sinful people. If God truly loved all mankind unconditionally, according to the logic of unconditional love from God, He would forgive and accept every person, no matter what, thus requiring no sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Folks, that is shallow love, if it can be described as love at all.

Love requires repentance, faith, and discipleship. God’s love is a transforming kind of love. It seems that there are two requirements for experiencing God’s love: 1) Jesus’ death on the cross—which is a costly grace, and 2) our self-committing trust—which is genuine faith.

It seems that God wished for the nation of Israel to have this sort of understanding. I believe that God wants the people of our time to understand this as well. I would suggest that part of the problem today is that the thinking revolves around a faulty philosophy that suggests that God is simply in the business of forgiving, and since His love is unconditional, we can do whatever we please to do.

We need to live in a way that shows we understand that our ways are not hidden from God.

We Need to Submit to God’s Choice. - 16.1-9

Jeremiah was given a ministry, along with the knowledge that he was going to be quite lonely. One of the reasons for this is the fact that God told Jeremiah that he would not get to be a family man. He was not going to be able to have a wife or children. That may seem unfair to some of us. Sometimes, God's choice is to protect us from more difficult situations later, as well as enable us to do exactly what he wants for us to do right now.

Families can become a bit of a distraction in the pursuit of whatever it is that needs to happen. However, the majority of the time, the family is a support and an encouragement in the good times and the bad times. From my perspective, it seems sad that Jeremiah did not have a family to fall back on during the times of attack and criticism on his ministry. Many of you know what it is like to undergo unnecessary criticism for your acts of ministry. You also know that you will normally be supported and encouraged by your family members. Sadly, Jeremiah did not have this family encouragement. In fact, he was reminded that his relatives would actually be an opposition to his ministry.

Yet, God had a good reason for this having Jeremiah stay single. Just as he does now, God knew what the big picture was going to be. Because of the upcoming judgment upon the nation of Judah, God knew that where there might normally be comfort, there would be isolation. Where there would normally be rejoicing, there would be sorrow. Where there would normally be celebration, there would be mourning.

We Need to Submit to God’s Commands. - 16.10-18

Like most situations, where there is heartache, people will ask, why? The people of Judah had the nerve to ask with a pretentious innocence as to what sin they had committed. Can you imagine the nerve?

God then answers with the fact that their fathers had left the true God and followed after false gods and even worshipped them. They had rejected God’s law.

Hang on; it gets even worse. Friends, let me remind us that we are not merely products of our upbringing. Each one of us is personally accountable to God for our behavior. God spells this out quite clearly in Jeremiah 16:12 “‘You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.” Those, to whom Jeremiah was ministering, were even more evil than their forefathers. They were following the stubbornness of their own evil hearts, rather than obeying God. They purposely rejected God’s ways, stating that their ways were better.

Still, they dared to claim that Jehovah God was their Lord. They acted as though they were surprised when they were to be punished. It seemed odd to them that they were thought of as sinning against God.

That is exactly what can and does happen when we presume upon God. When we begin to take God’s holy Word and manipulate it to say things it does not say, in order to justify our behavior or our philosophy of ministry, trouble is right around the corner. It can even occur by making simple statements such as, everybody interprets that passage differently. That is a very broad and wide road that leads to a dead end of destruction. We must be careful to go back to the Word of the Lord and follow it carefully. We cannot be ashamed for ur biblical stance. Remember the Word of the Lord stands forever.

God gives a little window of hope in Jeremiah 16:14–15: ““Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.” God lets the people know that even though they will experience captivity, He will bring the remnant back to their land. There is hope. There won’t be total annihilation.

Then God goes back to the current situation, lest any of them forget what is required. The people will still have to experience the consequences for their sin.

Listen to Jeremiah 16:17 ““For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes.” What a great reminder for us even today. We can say something is not sin, but if God calls it sin, then it most certainly is. We might even assume that what we are doing is not observed or known by others; however God knows it. There are a lot of things that can secretly be done in one’s heart, without any other person’s knowledge. Remember, my friends; nothing is hidden from God. We might be able to fool other people, but there is no fooling God.

We Need to Submit to God’s Correction. - 16.19-21

Jeremiah 16:19–21 (NASB95)

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility and things of no profit.” Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods! “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know— This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is the Lord.”

Jeremiah brings this all to a very simple point; There is only one God—Yahweh.

Jeremiah starts out with the reminder that the Lord is his strength.. The Lord is his protection or fortress. The Lord is immovable. The Lord is where you can come during tough times. The Lord is always available.

Yes, the other nations have all kinds of false gods and idols. But those are made by people. Therefore, they are not gods at all.

Listen to God interject a profound truth in verse 21; Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know . . . This is a lesson that the nation should not forget. God will demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that His power and might are above anything and everything. The purpose is found in the last part of verse 21: they shall know that My name is the Lord or Yahweh. There is no other god, no other personal belief system, no other lifestyle that will be of any lasting value, other than that which is based upon the Lord alone.

Conclusion

We know what it is like to wish that life went according to our plans. The danger is when we live as if our eternal destiny is also based upon our own agenda and our choices alone. We can try to convince ourselves and others that God will unconditionally love and accept every one of the earth’s inhabitants, but that doesn’t change God’s mind or his requirements.

Most of us would rather learn the tough lessons of life by means of somebody else. We’d rather not be taught personally the tough lessons of life. However, if we refuse to acknowledge the Lord as the only God, we may have to go through the school of hard knocks, just as the people of Judah did.

We must also recognize that just because we say something is not sin, that does not change God's Word. What God calls sin is just that. God requires that sin must be dealt with and forsaken. This may mean some difficult times for some, but it is always better to confess the sin and get on with life. We also must understand that, even if we get a majority vote on certain lifestyle issues, that does not change God's Word. Neither do we sin in secrecy or in isolation. God sees it all.

Finally, we must come to a foundational understanding that there is only one God. For us, today, we understand this more fully in the fact that there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. He is our only hope. He is our strength, enabling us to live victoriously, through the Holy Spirit. He is our fortress, where we can go for shelter. He is our refuge where we can go when life seems to be collapsing all around us. It is He and He alone Who is God.

So in light of the fact that our ways are not hidden from God, we must live accordingly. Worship God alone. Obey His commandments and principles. Serve no other god in any shape or form or philosophy. We certainly don’t want to learn a lesson the hard way, like Judah did.

We need to live in a way that shows we understand that our ways are not hidden from God.