Jeremiah 30:12-22 (NRSV)
Read Jeremiah 30:12-22 on biblegateway.com
Verse 12For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable, your wound is grievous. Verse 13There is no one to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. Verse 14All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are so numerous. Verse 15Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are so numerous, I have done these things to you. Verse 16Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey. Verse 17For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: "It is Zion; no one cares for her!"
Verse 18Thus says the Lord: I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound, and the citadel set on its rightful site. Verse 19Out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the sound of merrymakers. I will make them many, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained. Verse 20Their children shall be as of old, their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them. Verse 21Their prince shall be one of their own, their ruler shall come from their midst; I will bring him near, and he shall approach me, for who would otherwise dare to approach me? says the Lord. Verse 22And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Devotion
For most of his book, Jeremiah speaks words of gloom and doom. A word has been derived from this type of speaking, “jeremiad:” a long, mournful complaint or lamentation. We get a sample of this in the first part of today’s text. The tone shifts, though, when the prophet quotes the Lord as saying, “I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal” (Jeremiah 30:17). In uncertain times it is easy, even understandable, to fire off jeremiads. Even then it is important to find words and ways to offer comfort and hope. If we accent only the negative, we overlook the realities of healing and caring. In Galatians Paul speaks of life lived not in gloom but in bloom. In God’s Spirit we can experience love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things. We are free to move from jeremiad to gentleness.
Prayer
Merciful God, we know the world is full of brutality and uncertainty, which we cannot ignore. We ask you to help us see and cultivate the fruit of your Spirit so we may live in hope and not in fear. Amen.