Jeremiah 25:12-14 – God's unending grace

The duration of Judah’s captivity was stipulated. God promised them that it would be seventy years. He only wanted to discipline “the basket of good figs” Jeremiah saw in his vision. He was using the captivity to cause them to repent and turn to Him. Although Babylon was the instrument that God would use to chasten His people, she was not at liberty to do as she like. The only person that could do as He liked was God Babylon. For she too was under the control of God and was merely an instrument in His hand.

In Jeremiah 25:12-14, while assuring liberty for the Judean whom He would be sending to captivity, God also assured them that Babylon and her king would be punished. After seventy years they too would be made to pay for their iniquity. God would devastate their land and bring it to utter desolation. The Babylonians would in return be captured and enslaved by different nations. And with the advantage of more revelation, we learned that they were conquered, and overtaken by the Medes and Persians, and even the Greeks. God indeed had made them pay for their wicked deeds.

The release of Judah from captivity is a demonstration of God’s grace. Like what He did to the people of Judah, God also uses the hard times of our lives to straighten us. When we yield to Him and His purpose in trials and tribulation, He uses the process to strengthen, restore and make us stronger and more stable. Trials are never easy to endure. But the grace of God will see us through. This is God’s promise to us in 1 Peter 5:10. He said, ^“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

 

This was the discovery of Annie Johnson Flint who wrote the lyrics of the hymn - He Giveth More Grace. Be encouraged by what she said:  

 

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added afflictions, He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.