I’m having a hard time understanding this week’s lesson on The Crisis Within and Without. My confusion starts with the first three verses of Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah gets a direct message from God to tell His people that He reminisces about the good old days – the days when they started out together into the wilderness.

Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com

“I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.” Jeremiah 2:2

This part doesn’t confuse me. All of us have probably looked back on difficult days and as the pain has subsided, we recount the positive highlights rather than focusing on what was most distressing. It’s how I see women who go through the pain of childbirth (and it seems painful!), but yet their overall memories from pregnancy through the birthing of their child is a positive one. The love they have for their child makes everything, including the bad, worthwhile. That reminds me of our Saviour.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

The message to Jeremiah goes on to recount how God brought them “into a bountiful country, To eat its fruit and its goodness.” The dream of a generation was realized. Although their continued rebellion cost them much, eventually the people entered the Promised Land. Their future had the potential to be light years removed from their past history of slavery in a foreign land. But the people turned their backs on God.

“The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit.” Jeremiah 2:8

My confusion is now growing and it’s not because they turned their backs on God. After all, they were warned about this very danger.

“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” Deuteronomy 6:10-12

The people went so far as to make idols out of wood and stone and declared these were their gods. How could a people who had been through so much and had seen so many indisputable miracles, turn from the living God to idols made by their own hands? Sounds delusional doesn’t it?

But this is not the point of my confusion. The pattern of God’s people calling on Him for deliverance only to forget him when things are going good has been played out again and again. If we are honest with ourselves, many of us will admit we’ve done the same thing. Through times of sickness we call on God for healing and promise our loyalty to him if healed. When on the ropes financially we plead for a breakthrough, and if He blesses us we will be faithful servants forever. With our hearts broken and crying through the midnight hours we beg God to lift the clouds in our lives and if He does, we’ll serve Him till we die. But then we forget.

Jeremiah is to point out with perfect clarity just how low the people had sunk. Not only was he to describe the depth of their sin but also the results of their sins and the pain sin would bring in its wake.

But then I found these words to Jeremiah as recorded in chapter 3.

“Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you.
For I am merciful,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not remain angry forever.
Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the Lord your God.”
Jeremiah 3:12-13

That is the source of my confusion. This love, patience and forbearance of God is so far above the love we understand that it leaves me amazed. This love is so deep that I cannot grasp it. It’s as if I am looking through a glass darkly. What kind of love is it that can forgive all transgressions? What kind of love can cast a people’s sins, their past, and place them as it were in the bottom of a sea? Only the love of Jesus.

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8

Here are a few Hit the Mark questions for this week’s lesson discussion:

• What does rebellion mean to you?
• Is it true that as long as you are sincere in your worship of God, even if it is biblically wrong, God is more concerned with the heart than the action? Explain your answer.
• Are major setbacks in life an indication that God is punishing us for sin(s) we’ve committed? Explain your answer.
• Is it true that if the religious leaders had been faithful to God, the people more or less would have followed them? Why yes or no?
• Which, if either, is the greatest threat to our salvation: our own involvement in sin or the fulfillment of the anti-Christ as prophesied in the bible? Explain your answer.
• How should a believer imitate the forbearing, patient love of God when dealing with others?
• Is the following statement True, Mostly True, Somewhat True or Not True: The more I understand God’s love, the more I will demonstrably show it to everyone. Explain your answer.

We close this week’s lesson with a passage from Jeremiah. It repeats this message of love that is consistent throughout the sacred scriptures:

“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3

Until next week, let’s all continue to Hit the Mark in Sabbath School!

Print/PDF/Email