A Hot Wind Blowing In The Land

Jeremiah 4.11-12, 22-28

We’re back in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah this week. He is a prophet of God talking to the northern kingdom, to Judah. If you’ll recall, the people of Israel have divided into two kingdoms, Judah and Jerusalem. While we are more familiar with the name of Jerusalem, it was Judah with which the prophets were more interested and it was Judah that later persevered to become Israel again.

Jeremiah was a prophet. He spoke on behalf of God to God’s people. He delivered messages to them that they were unable or too busy to hear themselves. At the time the Judeans were trying to defend themselves from northern invaders. They were concerned with that time, the time in which they were living and not with God’s time. The people of Judah knew the invasion was coming, the prophet Jeremiah had told them that too. So they set about trying to defend themselves. They became focused on themselves, on their nation, and on their own needs. They failed to give proper credence to God. They failed to remember God’s presence with them throughout their history. They failed to rely on God.

To get their attention, a warm wind blew across the land and God sent Jeremiah to talk to the people. The words of God, spoken by Jeremiah, are words of lament. God does not desire for the people to be struck down, but they have forgotten that they are God’s people. They remember that they are Judah and that they must defend themselves from the outside threat. They remember that they used to be with Jerusalem and that together they crossed the Red Sea, but the people of Judah had forgotten that they were God’s people. They had forgotten about their relationship with God. The people did not do it out of malice. They did not think that it would be good to break away from God. They had just allowed their relationship with God dissolve over time.

Verse 22 uses a beautiful play on words. It says that the people do not know God, but they know how to do evil. It reads skilled in the translation that we use, the people are skilled at doing evil, but it is really the same word, to know. The people of God do not know God. They may remember that God was there. They may remember that God had helped them out in a couple of pinches in the past. They may remember that it is God who created the world, but they have forgotten to work on their relationship with God. They have forgotten that their God is not only one to be feared and one to be worshipped, but also one to know, one to work on getting to know. Instead of putting time into getting to know God, they have put time into developing their ability to do things that displease God – not out of being indignant, but out of apathy.

And the repercussions of the Judeans’ actions were widespread. It seemed to them that their actions impacted only themselves and their future. They were trying to build up their kingdom. They were trying to make it safe and convenient for the people of their nation. They were just trying to take care of themselves. It seemed as though their choices affected only them, but their choices were further reaching. They were very skillfully tearing down the world, which God had so carefully and thoughtfully created for them.

God looked upon the earth and it ceased to be the place that God had created. It was no longer the lush life-sustaining garden with a perfect and delicate balance of heat and cool and rain and dry. There was a warm wind blowing across the land. In place of the climate God had created was a land that was wasted of its resources. The dirt was depleted of its nutrients and the streams had dried. Where the sun had shone brightly, it was now hid from sight. The mountains shook and the hills moved to and fro. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, creation was being undone. The animals were ceasing to exist. The birds of the air were fleeing (v25) and the cities were being laid low.

Chaos was slowly let loose again like secrets slipping from Pandora’s Box. Chaos had been so carefully hemmed in by God, pushed back over the horizon as the world was created, yet the skillful hands of the people of God had let it loose again in the desecration of creation. The people did not think to themselves that it would be good to tear down all that God had built up. They were not that callous. It just sort of happened, over time. Things had begun to fall apart and they had become accustomed to it. They did it all as they were grasping at life, trying} to do what they could to preserve what they had.

It’s important to point out that God did not do this to the people. God did not cause the destruction. God did not tear apart the land or send the animals away. But did not God stop it from happening, either, which I find difficult to deal with. I want God to swoop in like a superhero and hold back the destruction that humanity has begun. I want God to hold back the warm wind that blows across the land, and restore the rivers and streams, but that is not what happens.

Instead, God sent the prophet Jeremiah to warn the people, to open their eyes. And God stood with Judah and watched the destruction happen. God remained by Judah’s side as the mountains trembled and the hills shook. God was right there waiting, waiting for Judah to just turn and reach out and ask for help. And Judah did not do it. So it builds and builds, the tension, the chaos, the destruction. What Judah has heaped upon itself increasing to the point where humanity cannot take it any more. What God has created has destroyed itself and the order has given way into waste and void…only, not yet.

In verse 27, God holds out that sparkle of hope we look for, that moment we anticipate in every difficult passage, that moment where God’s mercy reigns. As the freight train of destruction barrels down the abandoned track, God says through the prophet Jeremiah, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.” God will not make a full end. God will not allow things to dissolve completely into waste and void. Judah had a pretty long way to go along down that abandoned track before God put on the emergency brake. They were almost at the end, about to derail; only God would not allow that to happen to the beloved people.

Instead, God says, the “earth shall mourn and the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back” (v28). God will not turn back from God’s people and God will not allow creation to be completely destroyed. Even if the destruction comes from sinfulness, from waste and hate and greed God will not allow the sinfulness to rule in the end. Despite all of humanity’s best efforts God’s redemptive purpose for the people cannot ultimately be thwarted.[1]

There is a warm wind blowing across our land. Our earth, God’s gift to us of creation, is stressed by the way we live our lives. We are skilled at making our lives easy. We live lives based on individuality and convenience. That means that we tend not to rely on one another and we tend not to rely on God. Though God is standing by waiting for us just to turn and reach out and ask for help, we do not turn, we do not reach, we do not ask. But God is there, just the same, waiting for us.

After many years of preaching that the earth and all its resources were gifts of God that had been given for humanity to use completely, the Evangelicals have changed their stance. Over the last year, Christians on the far right have done an amazing thing and reached across the political divide to environmentalists. The evangelicals have been moved by God and have reformed their understanding of the purpose of God’s creation. They say it is not just for God’s people now, but also for God’s people extending out into the future. It is a radical shift in a relatively short period of time, but they felt the warm wind on their cheeks, and recognized God in it and God’s desire for us to care for creation and one another. Even though we do not have to act in order for God’s redemption to be given to the world, God still desires for us to act, for us to turn toward God, for us to turn toward one another.

There is a warm wind blowing across the land and it is God’s presence with us, God beckoning to us to change our ways to be the stewards we were called to be in the Garden of Eden, to care for our world and one another and to know God.
[1] Texts For Preaching: Year C. p507.