Jeremiah 15:5-9 – Don’t take God’s love for granted

Though the people of Judah went through divine dealings and much suffering, yet would persist in their errors. God dealt with them countless times to get them to straighten up, all to no avail. They continued to listen to false prophets, cling to false hopes and promises they had made, and preferred to incur God’s displeasure. God hoped they would acknowledge their sin and quickly repent, change, and return to Him, It was all a long fruitless wait and God’s patience had worn thin. To Him, these people were undeserving of any pity. Using human terms to help them see the situation, God told them in Jeremiah 15:5-6 that He was wearied of having to threaten them and then withhold His judgment and wait for a possible change in their stubborn stunts and attitude.

Tired of waiting in Jeremiah 15:7-9, God then told them a final slaughter was coming upon them. It would come with such finality and severity beyond any imagination.  This, to God, was their inevitable outcome. God’s process of judgment described as “a winnowing fork” would begin at the gate. So severe would be the dealing that the nation would be bereaved of young men who would be killed coming against their enemy. Mothers would lose their children to the sword of the enemy,  resulting in unnumbered widows in the land. Using hyperbole, God said that the number of their widows would even exceed the grains of sand in the sea.

 

In the later part of verse 8, Jerusalem was illustrated as a mother of a young man. whose son would be killed by a destroyer at noon, the least unexpected hour. She would be brought into deep anguish and despair. Using poetic description, Jerusalem would be like a despairing mother, who had given birth to seven sons (signifying many sons), would suddenly experience a severe and unusual labor, and would die prematurely. The premature death is described in verse 8 as the sun going down while it was yet day and long before the time for the sun to set. Those who were not killed after the fall of Jerusalem would be overtaken by the sword of their adversaries and humiliated. 

The description of the devastation in these verses leaves us with one key lesson in life. While God's mercy remains available to those who will respond to Him and repent, there will be no mercy for recalcitrant who refuse to take God seriously and continue to spurn His love.  Let us not spurn the love of God nor take Him for granted.