David Bahn – Reflections

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Today’s readings: Jeremiah 16-18, Psalm 62.

Jeremiah 17:5-13

Thus says the LORD:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,
    whose heart turns away from the LORD.
⁶ He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.

⁷ “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
    whose trust is the LORD by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?
¹⁰ “I the LORD search the heart
    and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

¹¹ Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
    so is he who gets riches but not by justice;
in the midst of his days they will leave him,
    and at his end he will be a fool.

¹² A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ O LORD, the hope of Israel,
    all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth,
    for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.

Years ago, I slogged through much of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s monumental work, The Gulag Archipelago. It isn’t an easy read. Rather than telling one story, it presents one heartbreaking account after another of life under the Soviet prison camp system. Page after page exposes the cruelty, injustice, corruption, and dehumanization of a government that had abandoned morality and truth. By the end, I realized that this wasn’t merely the story of a few bad actors—it was the tragic fruit of an entire system built on lies.

Jeremiah often feels exactly like The Gulag Archipelago.

Judgment.

Another judgment.

Another warning.

Another denunciation.

Another false prophet.

Another king who refuses to listen.

Another plea to repent.

You almost want to ask,

“Jeremiah…is there any good news coming?”

Eventually, yes.

The New Covenant. (Still to come in our readings this month.)

The Righteous Branch. (Also still to come.)

The LORD Our Righteousness. (Also still to come.)

But for now, we have to wait.

Solzhenitsyn does something similar. He makes you sit with evil long enough to realize how deep it runs. Only then does he point to hope—not in politics or revolution, but in repentance, truth, and ultimately God.

And that need for repentance isn’t reserved for Soviet leaders or prison guards, nor only for the evil kings, false prophets, and pagan nations in Jeremiah’s day. Solzhenitsyn famously reminds us:

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.”

And there’s the problem.

In the end, evil cannot stand against God’s truth and faithfulness. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil. His resurrection is God’s declaration that evil, though terribly powerful, does not have the final word. Christ’s faithfulness triumphed where every other human faithfulness falls short.

We will not always stand as tall as Jeremiah or Solzhenitsyn, much less as tall as Jesus. But Jesus is more than our example. He is our Savior. He remained perfectly faithful to his Father where Israel failed, where Jeremiah’s generation failed, and where we so often fail. Through his life, death, and resurrection, he not only forgives our faithlessness but also gives us his Spirit to strengthen our faith.

Jeremiah’s call is still our call. Do not abandon the LORD. Do not be seduced by the false promises of the age. Do not confuse popular opinion with God’s truth. Instead, remain steadfast. Trust the One who is faithful even when we are not. As the LORD says through Jeremiah, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.” (Jeremiah 17:7). Such faith is never misplaced, for the God who called Jeremiah to stand firm is the same God who sustained him, and will sustain us until the day faith becomes sight.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.