Following our Evil Desires or the Merciful God

Jeremiah 18:12-23 

12 And they said, "That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart."

13 Therefore thus says the LORD:
"Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Will a man leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?

15 "Because My people have forgotten Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16 To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.

17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy;
I will show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity."

18 Then they said, "Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."

19 Give heed to me, O LORD,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!

20 Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I stood before You
To speak good for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.

21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.

22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.

23 Yet, LORD, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your anger.

The evil turn from God and attack the messengers of God’s judgment and grace.  Israel had rejected God’s warnings and chosen to live as refugees from God’s goodness and blessings.  They then chose their own ways on the barren and narrow footpaths instead of the highway He gave them to lead them beside still waters.  Their own plans were driven by the stubborn evil imaginations of their hearts and not according to His word.  Because they put God out of their minds they replaced Him with lifeless and powerless carved images to worship because they could not be held accountable to such creations of their own hands and imaginations.  Then the nations around them would only shake their heads because of the dishonor of God’s name caused by their sin.  They were to be driven from the blessings of the promised land and scattered until they repented, but when God sent them the prophets like Jeremiah with messages of forgiveness and reconciliation through repentance, they repaid his good with the evil of targeting him for destruction instead.  Jeremiah labored for them to hear that the people of God would have His wrath on their idolatrous sin be turned away.  Their continuing forceful rejection of the LORD and His word would result in starvation and defeat by their en in war.  The prophet further turned their attacks on him to divine justice without atonement or forgiveness, but marking their unrepentant sins with the warpaint of His just wrath targeting and overthrowing them for their rejection of His word and sole worship of Him.  We see then how those who refuse repentance and reject His work which is fulfilled in His Son will be held accountable to the wrath of justice in the final judgment.  The only hope is walking in His narrow path by faith to follow His grace obediently and willingly, for there is one way (Acts 4:12) and one gate (John 10:9) to enter into God’s presence through the reconciliation of the blood of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to take our just punishment.  Those who do not accept and receive Him will reap the fruit of their rejection without their sin being blotted out by grace and mercy (Psalm 51:1, 9, Revelation 3:5).  Those who do accept and receive Him (John 1:12) find reconciling peace with God by grace through faith.  We either follow our own evil desires or the merciful God and worship Him alone.