“A voice! A cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! For the Lord is laying Babylon waste and stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is raised, for a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon; her warriors are taken; their bows are broken in pieces, for the Lord is a God of recompense; he will surely repay.
I will make drunk her officials and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nothing,
and the nations weary themselves only for fire.” (Jeremiah 51:54-58)
The Repaying God
Jeremiah 51:54-58
Dr. Steven K. Parker
The OT prophet Jeremiah’s ministry was a difficult one; he was called to preach a message of judgment that God’s people was not ready to receive. The toils of his calling and rejection of his people led Jeremiah to cry out to God with anguishing, tear-filled prayers. Jeremiah knew that God’s wrath was going to be poured out on Judah through terrible atrocities that would be committed by the Babylonian nation. Jeremiah also knew that God would eventually forgive and restore His people and turn the tables on their tormentors from Babylon. Today’s passage looks toward that day when the God of recompense would repay the enemies of God’s people for their injustices. Babylon’s abuse of God’s people has not gone unseen by God and He will eventually hold this pagan nation accountable. The Repaying God saw all that they had done and would not leave Babylon unpunished for her cruelty against His people.
If you’ve ever been treated unfairly, slandered, rooked in a business deal, or picked on by a bully, you can appreciate Jeremiah’s message about the Repaying God. If we live long enough in this broken world, we eventually end up on the yucky end of the man’s inhumanity to man part of sinful human nature and when we are mistreated by others, it’s comforting to think that someday God will repay those who wrong us for their misdeeds. We tend to polish our worship and whitewash our prayers, but Jeremiah’s example invites us to lay our feelings bare before the God who, in the end, will make things right. My hunch is that our witness would be a lot more effective and God-honoring if our worship was a lot more authentic and honest like that. Jesus taught us to “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” In order to do that, we have to be honest enough to admit that people have indeed hurt us and confess that hurt before God. Those initial prayers might be something like, “God, shame this person who’s treated me so badly and bring justice upon them for their sins against me.” If we truly leave the need to repay people in God’s hands, we can follow that prayer with a commitment to direct kindness and compassion toward them. This seems to be what Paul had in mind when he instructed believers to:
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)
Are you harboring ill feelings toward someone who’s hurt you in some way? Do we really believe that God will eventually set the record straight? If so, can we then commit to pray for this person (even if it’s a prayer that God would shake them to repentance)? Are we willing to take that prayer a Jesus-honoring step forward and commit to direct intentional goodness toward this person like what Paul describes? If we will do that, God just might lead us past the sting of bitterness and to the freeing place of living into His goodness and grace.