Jeremiah wrote this when Judah was in a period of decline, culminating in the destruction of the temple and seventy years of captivity in Babylon. The people had turned away from the Lord. Six of their last seven kings did what was evil in His eyes. Only Josiah followed the Lord and sought to turn the nation back to Him. But his life ended prematurely when he disobeyed the word of the Lord and mixed himself into the political affairs of the world around him. The Lord’s chastening hand was upon His people.

We see this “weeping prophet’s” heart in the two books he wrote. But what is more, we see the Lord’s heart. He does not change, even when He must chasten His people. Judgment is His strange work—strange, but needful at times. His sunshine and rain fall on just and unjust alike. So too, the believer suffers along with the unbeliever when God deals in judgment with a nation. But the one who seeks Him and hopes in Him finds that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, for great is His faithfulness.

Thank God, we can enjoy the Lord’s faithful goodness, even when His chastening hand is on the world. When we hear of His people suffering and in distress, let us pray for them, while thanking God for His many mercies that He, in His great faithfulness, grants us to experience daily.