Overview
Using the frightening imagery of thundering chariots and clanging swords, Jeremiah cries out to an unconcerned people to announce God's soon-coming judgment upon them for their idolatry. Judah has gone too far for pardon (5:7); and its rebellious, unrepentant attitude has earned punishment so terrible that the prophet's heart breaks as he proclaims it (4:19). |
Your Daily Walk
Radical problems often necessitate radical solutions. To extinguish an oil well fire, dynamite is sometimes used. The stupendous power of the explosion is the only way to "blow out" the raging inferno. In medicine, the seemingly radical amputation of a limb preserves life by stopping the progress of cancer or gangrene. Many an old building is best "renovated" by tearing it down, clearing the rubble, and building anew.
Judah's apostasy had destroyed the nation's spiritual vitality. Like a spreading cancer, it resisted halfhearted attempts at treatment. Clearly, something more radical was needed—something that would purge the nation of its idolatry and immorality.
Before God can build into your life, there may be things He needs to blast out and remove: bad habits, selfish attitudes, walls of indifference, closets of secret sin. Have possessions in your life become the focus of your affection? Are people in your life tearing you down, rather than building you up? Do pursuits in your life oppose rather than promote the kingdom of God? Pick one of those areas of need, and with God's help, deal with it now ... before the cure becomes more painful than the disease.
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