Monday Reflection – January 25, 2021 God’s Judgement

Monday Reflection – January 25, 2021
God’s Judgement

For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; I will make an end of all the nations among which I scattered you, but of you I will not make an end. I will chastise you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. Jeremiah 30:11

The context of today’s Watchword is God declaring a time of terrible catastrophe that would come upon the Jewish people, known as the time of Jacob’s trouble. God foretells disaster and destruction, yet at the same time God does not want them to fear, but to be confident in His ultimate victory and His promise of salvation. God promises that he would be present with His people to save them. Admittedly, this assurance is not easily believed. The Jews must be looking on their state at this time and are in despair. The Chaldeans and the Assyrians flourished seventy years in every kind of wealth, in luxuries, in honour. What then could the Jews think? Unbelievers and God’s enemies are happy, but they are miserable, being oppressed by hard servitude, living in poverty, and counted as sheep destined for the slaughter.

In this context, God offers hope. God promises that when He begins to punish the Gentile nations, He will destroy them with an utter destruction, no hope will remain for them. However, He will not make an end of His people. Thus, God makes a difference between the punishment inflicted on the ungodly and that by which He will chastise the sins of His people; for the punishment He would inflict on the wicked would be fatal, while the punishment for His people would be only for a time; it would therefore be for correction, cleansing, medicine and salvation.

Jeremiah is surely seeking to mitigate the bitterness of the grief being experienced by God’s people; God would not cast them away. They are to patiently bear the pain, yet with hope of the end. This is a message for all of us as God’s people. God will surely exercise justice and judgement on us for our sinful and wayward ways, yet such is not for annihilation. No! Not so with God. It is for His process of pruning, cutting away, purifying and making new. God takes us through the process so we can become all that He has destined for us, and to be able to do all that He has purposed for our lives. The fiery process is towards fine gold.

Yet, we must also acknowledge that God’s judgement, chastisement and chastening are in moderation. Though He punishes, He is ever mindful of His mercy, and regards not what we deserve, but what we can bear. Therefore, God withholds His hand and gently chastises His people; judgment, yet moderately. Note, God never exceeds due limits so as to be charged for cruelty; God is never so rigorous so as to be charged for injustice. Instead, God exercises judgement mingled with mercy. God knows just how much we can bear, and stays His hand so as to fulfil His promise, “…but of you I will not make an end.”

While under God’s due judgement, Peter admonishes us in today’s New Testament text in 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.”

Jermaine Gibson