Jeremiah Chapter 12 – Justice and Grace

““Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people. But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 12: 15-17)

Consistent throughout the book of Jeremiah is the theme of God’s unparalleled righteousness amongst those He has chosen and those He has yet to call out. This chapter, in particular, concisely brings to light God’s patience and fairness in judgement, in the execution of His justice upon those who choose to deliberately disobey Him, and in the simultaneous granting of mercy upon those who choose to turn back to Him and worship other gods no more.

““Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion underfoot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate; desolate, it mourns to Me; the whole land is made desolate, because no one takes it to heart.”” (Jeremiah 12: 11)

Having read this chapter, how serious is our faith and trust in the fact that God is our portion? Do we take this fact to heart? If God is our portion and if we have indeed let this portion firmly take root in our hearts, let us honestly self-examine, are our lives in complete submission to God’s will and way?

If we are not for God, surely, we can only be against God. Nothing compares to God; there is none like Him, so, let this chapter serve as a stern word of caution to us to guard our portion in our hearts, lest we too, be deemed by God as hated and desolate.

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