This is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable—a terrible wound. There is no one to help you or to bind up your injury. No medicine can heal you. All your lovers—your allies—have left you and do not care about you anymore. I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy. For your sins are many, and your guilt is great. Why do you protest your punishment—this wound that has no cure? I have had to punish you because your sins are many and your guilt is great. “But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. All who plunder you will be plundered, and all who attack you will be attacked. I will give you back your health and heal your wounds,” says the LORD. “For you are called an outcast—‘Jerusalem for whom no one cares.’” [Jeremiah 30.12-17]
There are two significant truths found in this passage from Jeremiah: 1) God is just, and 2) God is merciful.
What this tells us is that any curse we experience is completely justified. Period. God's justice is NOT out of control! Curses do not come for no reason.
Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim. [Proverbs 26.2]
There is only one reason man would not accept this fact: pride.
Pride, by its very nature, compounds in preservation of itself. For every proud thought man has, there grows a plethora of tributary thoughts branching out from it that all feed back into it supporting and even reinforcing its error. To 'deal with' tributary thoughts is a fool's errand - one that will consume inordinate amounts of time and energy without ever eliminating the root sin of pride. The problem then with addressing a mature root of pride is its network of reinforcement that, by design, quite literally insures that its removal will not be without great difficulty - if not impossible. It might be concluded then that that root of pride is not coming out - it is not going to be remedied - it is, as the LORD told His people, incurable.
But then, when contrary to our pride we cease our arrogant protests of innocence, God's mercy and grace come to our rescue.
We actually have an example of what this might look like...
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2.3-11]
Humility and pride are both attitudes. While the attitude of pride manifests in the aforementioned countless "tributaries" that feed it, humility manifests in a single and easily identifiable way: death to self. Unfortunately, but not remarkably, today's society knows little to nothing of dying to self. In fact, "Christianity" knows little to nothing of dying to self.
While there is much (and popular) ado about believers living in the power and authority of Christ before and after the Cross, there is notably less attention to being "in Christ" as He hung on the Cross. And yet, Jesus was very clear about its significance:
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? [Luke 9.23-25]
It seems that life itself has a certain pride attached to it that only death can remedy:
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. [1 John 2.16 NKJV]
And, look how the New Living Translation reads:
For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. [1 John 2.16]
If we can see it, the "incurable injury" mentioned in Jeremiah might just be life itself. And, when we see life itself as the incurable injury, then Luke 9.23-25 comes into crystal clear focus!
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? [Luke 9.23-25]
Consider this statement:
"We are not given faith that we might live, but that we might die!"
Whether we like or dislike this statement, it puts Luke 9.23-25 in proper perspective. Our lives indeed serve a high purpose, but it is not self-preservation in any way. Our use of faith for self-preservation is very much akin to the parable Jesus told of the unwise steward:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ [Matthew 25.14-30]
If life is both an incurable injury and the talent we've been given to steward, why then would we ever attempt to preserve it? It is our place to neither protest the incurable injury nor the stewardship of the talent but to "put it out there" so God can heal it - so God can give return on the investment. All our attempts at self-preservation (the pride of life) are pure futility because God is just. His mercy however extends to those who resign themselves from all self-preservation - those who die to themselves - those who risk all in investing their lives to the Kingdom.
Wow, I didn't see that coming from Jeremiah 30.12-17!
Father, although what I have written here may make no sense whatsoever to another soul, it has spoken to me. I find no excuse for my attempts at self-preservation when these Scriptures exist. Even my attempts to do better only compound the problem just as the steward given the one talent found out to be true. My pride and desire to "live" separate me from Your will. Forgive me - show me Your ways - my life is Yours to do with as You will. Help me to see that my cross is my only place of safety because it is the only place where only You are in control.
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