"I will not make a full end of you."
The beauty of this verse didn't strike me until about the third time I read through this because I didn't comprehend what the Lord was talking about.
He speaks these words to Jeremiah after telling him of the devastation coming to Jerusalem.
Their quiver is like an open tomb;
they are all mighty warriors.
They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your fig trees;
your fortified cities in which you trust
they shall beat down with a sword.
But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.
Hope among hopelessness.
Jeremiah is telling the nation that mighty warriors are coming from the north to seek, devour, plunder and destroy. To take them to a foreign land to serve as slaves. To take them from their comfort to the unknown.
A death sentence, but not.
All though the discipline will be severe and weeping may tarry for far longer than a night, there will be a morning when joy comes.
As painful as this will be for the people of Jerusalem the Lord is after far more than their earthly comforts.
He knows it is far better for their false worship and fake god-seeking to be completely ripped away.
God has no delight in these consequences. He has pleaded with them, rebuked them and disciplined them lightly.
But now the time has come for disastrous results all because their way and deeds have caused their very bitter doom (v 18). He will not be made a mockery of because His glory is His goal.
It is always telling for me to hear the Lord's very heart - a heart He designed me to seek after. A heart of mercy and grace, but also of justice.
The Lord is in anguish Himself. The very one who could keep the north from coming and terrorizing knows - for the bearing it has on the Israelites eternity - that this must happen for them to set their minds of Him alone and not the deaf and mute wooden gods.
These gods that they over and over try to breathe their very own breath into. These gods they have formed with their own hands.
God alone breathes His breath into our lifeless bodies.
God alone brings our dead hearts back to beating.
God alone sets crooked paths straight.
This does not come with ease and comfort. But He knows that all discipline at the time seems painful but later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
And righteousness, dear ones, is what we're after.
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