When I was a kid we were taught the six 'W' questions to ask to get all the information for a paper. "What", "who", "when", "where", "why", and "how". Now, I enjoy these questions, and I would say that they are ordered from easiest to hardest to answer. Of course, there's a lot more one can say about each question, and great studies have been done about what each word really entails. However, I will be writing about 'Why?' here. This is a question that when put into a religious context, or even in the context of relating to God, I believe is rarely answered, or when it is answered - even correctly - the answer is almost always rejected or unseen. "Why did God allow the crusades?", "Why did God put me in a family where I'd be abused and rejected?", and "Why is He so judgmental in the Old Testament, and so merciful in the New Testament?" - to put a few of the questions that I've heard most often out there. Frankly, these questions are only truly relevant to our culture that has been programmed to hate war, condemn judgment, and celebrate victimization.
Let me put the frame of Jeremiah onto this post, and lead you into seeing through the lenses of a common jew. We see Jeremiah, throughout the book, prophesying that God will utterly destroy Jerusalem. (34:2) Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. Why was the Lord destroying Jerusalem? Well, Jeremiah knew this very well, but the Israelites were in utter denial. There were false prophets in almost every other chapter saying that there will be peace! It was partly because the people were putting their faith in the false prophet's words that there had to be destruction, and partly because they had been following idols since the times of Isaiah and all the way back to their time in Egypt (with a few exceptions).
Jeremiah definitely had a few questions of his own (15:18) Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail? He was confused and had very much been feeling the pain of abandonment from the Lord whom he was serving. Why though? Well, looking at it through the pattern of how God has dealt with people through history, He rarely judges just an individual, but instead deals with people as societies, and communities. Of course, there are generational curses because of certain private dealings, but for the most part, Jeremiah was caught in the crossfire. Better yet, God has purposed that Jeremiah would go through this pain with his own people.
Being faithful to God doesn't protect us from pain. If anything, it increases the amount of pain that we will go through. We can take the perspective of the common jew and ask "will you always be lying to me?", but realize that God never promised to keep you from pain. He promised to give you His peace that surpasses all understanding. Only with that peace, and joy can we go through the pains of life fruitfully.
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