Wandering from the Promised Land

Jeremiah 50:6-7,34: "My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wondered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place. Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, 'We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.' . . . . Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their case so that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon."

The story of the people of Israel in the book of Jeremiah is one one of wayward rebellion against the LORD and consequent judgment for their wickedness. To be sure, God sent a number of prophets to warn His chosen people of their sinful ways and to call them to repentance; sadly, these descendants of Abraham would not heed the warnings. True to His promises, the LORD would bring invading nations (e.g. the Assyrians and the Babylonians) to capture the land promised to the Jewish people and take many of its inhabitants captive.

This land of Palestine was designed by the LORD as a resting place for His people. Were they to trust in the LORD by faith and live obediently to the Lord in the land, then they were guaranteed the Lord's blessing and protection. Never would they have had to endure the judgment of the Lord if only they would follow the Lord exclusively.

The prophet Jeremiah, speaking the words of the Lord, used the imagery of the Jewish people wandering over mountains and hills away from their land of promise into foreign lands. One only has to remember the Israelites of Jeremiah's day fleeing to Egypt and taking up worship of the pagan goddess "Queen of Heaven" (see Jeremiah 44:17). This was not an isolated incident, but a repeated pattern of cosmic treason against the One True Lord of Hosts!

Later, in the 51st chapter of Jeremiah, we find the Lord's declaration of His rightful Sovereignty . . . decreed through His prophet when Jeremiah said, "He (God) made the earth by His power; He founded the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses" (Jeremiah 51:15-16). From this declaration, the Lord interjected the utter futility of those who would put anything as an object of worship before Him: "Every man is senseless and without knowledge . . . . images are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish." (51:17-18).

Still, in the midst of Israel's calamity, the Lord would not forget His people. He would restore a remnant because He as the only Redeemer is "strong . . . defending their cause so that he may bring rest to their land" (50:34). God Almighty would initiate His people's reclamation of their land, promised through the Abrahamic covenant (see Genesis 12:7).

This is a good word for us today. We must never forget that God is the Sovereign Ruler and Redeemer who alone is to be worshipped and obeyed. No other person or thing has the right or authority to challenge the Lord's rightful reign in the world and in our lives. We must not permit our personal wills or desires to supersede our calling to surrender to the Lord as our Master. To do so is to wander away from the blessed place of rest that He has promised to us . . . and to experience His consequent judgment for our rebellion.

Let's never forget that our foundational purpose in life is to glorify the Lord through our faithful obedience to Him; and when we faithfully follow the Lord, we will find ourselves in His blessed resting place.