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after the backlash

Jeremiah 11:18-23 (JDV)

Jeremiah 11:18 Yahveh caused me to know, so I knew. Then you helped me to see their deeds,

Jeremiah 11:19 because I was like a docile lamb led to slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plots against me: “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit; let’s cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will no longer be remembered.”

Jeremiah 11:20 But, Lord of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, because I have presented my case to you.

Jeremiah 11:21 Therefore, here is what Yahveh says about the people of Anathoth who intend to take your life. They warn, “Do not prophesy in the name of Yahveh, or you will certainly die at our hand.”

Jeremiah 11:22 Therefore, this is what Yahveh of Armies says: “I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.

Jeremiah 11:23 They will have no remainder, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

after the backlash

Jeremiah had been doing a good thing. He had been proclaiming the truth to a nation that had turned its back on the truth. He stared popular opinion in the face and dared to call a spade a spade. He was being fruitful for the kingdom of God.

The result? There was a price on his head. He did the right thing and it only cost him trouble and misery. His fruitfulness had a backlash.

But God opened the door to the future to him. He could see that these very people who were plotting his death would pay for their rejection of him, his God, and his message. There would be justice after the backlash.

Lord, we choose to trust you and do the right thing, even if there is a backlash.