Readings for today: Jeremiah 38-40, Psalms 74, 79
Have you ever been disappointed with God? Ever feel like He let you down? Ever wonder how His plans for you could be good when so many bad things are taking place? Ever feel like the Psalmist from today’s reading? “O God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?…How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!” (Psalm 74:1, 10-11)
I imagine King Zedekiah and all his court must have felt like God was letting them down. The king hoped against all hope for an 11th hour rescue. He simply could not believe God would abandon His people. Abandon His city. Abandon His Temple. He fundamentally could not bring himself to believe things had gotten that bad. He knew his history. He could look back and tell you story after story about God relenting from disaster as the last possible moment. He heard every word from every sermon Jeremiah preached. But then he watches in horror as the Babylonians storm a breach in the wall. He tries to escape only to be captured and endure unbelievable trauma as his sons are executed in front of him. It is the last thing he will ever see as his eyes are the next things to go. He is then shackled in chains and carried off to exile. It’s a tragic ending to a tragic story.
But we’ve seen this before, have we not? Is this not the human story? Our story? After Adam’s all, God raises up Seth only to watch as humanity descends into chaos. He raises up Noah and rescues him from the flood only to watch Noah’s descendants rebel and build a tower to the heavens. He scatters them and then raises up Abraham only to watch his descendants end up in slavery in Egypt. God raises up Moses and delivers them from bondage. Brings them to a land flowing with milk and honey only to watch them forget Him and do what is right in their own eyes. So he raises up David. The man after God’s own heart and sets him on the throne. But now David’s descendants have followed the same path and ended up in the same place as those who’ve come before. In each case, I am confident the people of God believed God would never leave them or forsake them. I am confident they believed God would remain steadfast, loyal, and true. And I imagine they were incredibly disappointed when judgment came.
The reality is our disappointment with God is often grounded in entitlement. We make the mistake of taking God’s grace for granted. We treat His commandments with disdain. We presume on the unconditional nature of His love. We fail to acknowledge the seriousness of our sin and refuse to take responsibilty for the selfish choices we make. Bonhoeffer called this “cheap grace.” Grace without cost. Love without sacrifice. Relationship without rules. Unfettered freedom which isn’t really freedom at all. This is what Zedekiah believed that led to his destruction. This is what Israel believed that led to their destruction. And this is what far too many of us believe if we’re honest.
Friends, we cannot blame God for the consequences of our sinful choices. We cannot blame God for our rebellion. I love how the late, great Gardner Taylor once put it, “It is the smallest, narrowest, cheapest religion which tries always to make God spiteful, vengeful, and every affliction the result of wrongdoing. Now, with a shudder, we must remember that our wrongdoing brings its own punishment, inner or outer. God does not have to do that!” The reality is that God has warned us over and over again what will happen should we choose to reject His ways. We cannot claim to love God and not follow His commands. The two always go together. Yes, we are saved by grace. Yes, Jesus loves us with an everlasting, unconditional love. Yes, God’s forgiveness is always within reach. But only for those who repent. Only for those who confess. Only for those who acknowledge their sin and who actively seek to turn from their self-centered ways. This is the truth of the gospel! Grace and demand hang together. Only those who believe obey and only those who obey believe. Or as the old hymn puts it, “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus.”