Now this is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Why bring such great disaster on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the men and women, the children and infants, and so leave yourselves without a remnant? – Jeremiah 44:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 8, 2017) Jeremiah 44 & 45

Often our response to stress seems to be self-defeating. We fail a physical and conclude that that diet we have been half-heartedly following just isn’t working, and then we binge on junk food. We don’t get that promotion at work, and so we stop trying to do what is necessary to advance in our careers. A few years ago I was working hard on a paper for a course that I was taking. I had admittedly taken a few risks with the project.  But when the Professor handed the paper back, I had received a B+ on the work I had submitted and a personal note from the Professor that the paper didn’t measure up to the usual standard of my work. I was crushed more by the comment from my teacher than by the grade I had received. I considered dropping the course before something switched inside of me reminding me that I was still passing the course and that dropping the class because of a comment from the professor was … well, stupid! But sometimes this is our unhealthy reaction to the stress in our lives.

There is no doubt the Judah was paying a stiff price for their sin. But the intention was never to drive them away from God. God was hitting the pause button. He desired to bring his people back to what was truly important. God’s plan was to rebuild the nation around him. With no Temple, the people would have to figure out what it really meant to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Without a Temple, they could explore what God might have desired when he spoke through Samuel saying, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22). But if they were going to learn anything, they were going to have to re-engage in life and the worship of their God.

Instead, the remnant that had been charged with starting the process of rebuilding over again had run off to Egypt and had entirely abandoned the God of their ancestors in exchange for the practice of burning incense in front of the gods of Egypt. And with this act of rebellion, they were leading their families into lives of idolatry and loss. They would never be the people that God had hoped that they would become.

And the remnant would have to come from somewhere else. In fact, the remnant would originate from the very ones who were willing to ask the hard questions about worshipping God as they sat by the Rivers of Babylon. “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps … How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land” (Psalm 137:1-2,4)? The answer to that question was precisely what God had needed his people to ask. Giving up was not on the agenda. Following God, even in the wilderness, was the required response of a remnant who were going to rebuild the nation of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 24