God’s way of bringing about transformation (Jeremiah 30)
Jer 30:1-24; Jer 31:1
How can a good God allow so much suffering in the world? This is a crunch point for many who reject the Christian God. Yet, when we look at our lives, it is often periods of hardship that become the catalyst for growth and transformation. Of course, not all difficulty or suffering seem fruitful, some feel utterly pointless. Although we may not understand the why, in fact we often don’t, there is a way through hardship so that the experience is not wasted. For Judah, the question why the exile happened would have been a tormenting one. After a series of chapters that affirmed God’s plan of a long exile juxtaposed with the false prophets’ prediction of a short interlude (chs.26-29), Jeremiah’s book continues with a series of hopeful prophecies (chs. 30-33; called by scholars ‘the Book of Consolation’). This section clarifies that the exile, though necessary, was not God’s final word. The false prophets were right in this, but they promised a shortcut. God’s Word, on the other hand, offers hope but only on the other side of suffering.
Overcoming fear
The chapter is divided into three segments, each prophecy introduced with ‘thus says the LORD’ (Jer 30:5, 12, 18) and each dealing with a different aspect of the problem. The first compares the distress of exile with the anguish of childbirth (Jer 30:5-7) expressing the fear of the unknown and the pain of suffering that the people experience. Implicit in the imagery is the threat of death (many women died in childbirth in the ancient world), but also the hope of new life (a baby born). This is confirmed in Jeremiah 30:8-9, where exodus language is used to describe the change: God will break the yoke of slavery (just as He did in Egypt), so that the people might serve God and His Davidic king.[1] The Lord encourages His people not to fear because He is with them and will save them from their trouble (Jer 30:10-11).
Overcoming hopelessness and the necessity of judgment
The second segment compares the problem to an incurable wound, a terminal illness with no one to cure or care (Jer 30:12-14). The people’s allies (‘your lovers’) cannot and will not help; in fact, shockingly, it is God Himself who caused the wound through an enemy (Babylon; v.14). Yet, as hinted at in the previous section, Judah had to be chastised (Jer 30:11), the wound was unavoidable because of their sins (Jer 30:15). The point seems to be that only such harsh treatment could help awaken a rebellious and blind people to the reality of their problem. Yet, what is humanly speaking an irreversible situation (exile), God can and will reverse because He cares (Jer 30:16-17).
The final segment describes the restoration and rebuilding in the land under a God-given ruler and in mutual commitment between God and His people (Jer 30:18-22). The necessity of judgment or chastisement is sounded again, which Judah will only understand in retrospect when God will be their God once more (Jer 30:23-24; 31:1).
Trusting God in the dark
Although suffering and hardship can be the result of sin, either as a direct consequence of bad decisions we have made or because God is trying to awaken us to our sin, much suffering happens for no obvious reason. Yet, our passage teaches that even if we sinned, God sees our fears, distress, and hopelessness and He says, ‘I am with you to save you’ (Jer 30:11). He may not remove trouble from us immediately, but He promises to bring us through it to the other end. When no one seems to understand or care, the Lord has compassion, and He has the power to transform an impossible situation of desperation into one of hope. Ultimately, we may not understand why something happened, but as Christians we have more reason to know God’s faithful love than Israel ever did. Would the Lord who was pierced for our transgressions (Isa 53:5), who swapped places with us and died betrayed, abandoned and in anguish so that we may have life, ever hurt us for no purpose? May we trust His wisdom and love, even when we cannot understand, and cling to Him in our need.
[1] Contrary to popular understanding, the exodus is not about ‘liberation’ or ‘freedom’ (words not used in the whole of the narrative) so much as transferring Israel from the oppressive service of a hard taskmaster to serve the living God (e.g. Exod 8:1; 9:1; 19:2-3).
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