Judah, the people of God were
severely troubled and afflicted because of their disobedience. They had been
influenced by the false prophets. And in the days of Jeremiah, their affliction
became worst. God likened the nation Judah with all her afflictions as a
severely incurable injured body. Foreign nations, who were once her allies and
referred to as her lovers sarcastically in Jeremiah 30:14, had jilted,
abandoned, and left her forsaken.
God reminded the people of
Judah that because of their great iniquities and numerous sins, He was the One
who had used the foreign nations to afflict her. He had used the Assyrians to
deal with Israel, and He was using the Babylonians to deal with Judah. However,
in verse 16, God assured His people that would punish the nations which He had
used to chasten Judah, especially for the way they had treated her. God’s
comforting words of hope are seen again in verse 17. He promised to bring Judah
back to health, heal her wounds and restore her.
We know that those whom God
loves, He disciplines. His dealing with us is always carried out with the
objective of restoration and maturing our lives. Like a skilled vinedresser,
God would carefully prune or remove hindrances to our growth. Because God cares
for us His children that He disciplines us. He chastens us to bring the best
out of us. Hebrews 12:11 says “For the moment all disciplines seem painful
rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who have been trained by it,” Don’t resist God’s dealing for our good.
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