Jeremiah 19 reminds me of the nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty. There are some things that are precious and delicate and once broken cannot be repaired as before. The wealth of kings and the strength of horses cannot mend a broken heart. Today’s chapter pictures a perspective we don’t often consider. I believe God Himself is broken hearted when we reject His love. We blame God, we accuse God and we curse God, but seldom realize that relationship is the wall on which all other relationships are built. Jeremiah is instructed to “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests… go out to the… Potsherd Gate”. It appears that this location, which may have once led to a garden, had become a horrific place where babies were sacrificed to false idols. God declared through the prophet, “Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle”. I’m convinced that in the pursuit of “Spiritual Goosebumps”, we can be deceived. We need both God’s Spirit and God’s Word. He continues, “For they have forsaken Me and made this a place of foreign gods… filled this place with the blood of the innocent… to burn their children in the fire as offerings”. God renames it “the Valley of Slaughter”. The awful reality is exposed. Lack of stability can leave a terrible mess for all of those around us. Are you off balance?
God is justified in condemning this evil. “In this place I will ruinthe plans of Judah and Jerusalem… make them fall by the sword before their enemies… I will devastate this city… and make it an object of horror and scorn”. The picture continues, “Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching”, “I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired… all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts”. They left their first love and fell for the deception. The people had not just betrayed God’s exclusive promise, but they publicly embraced the unwholesome home wrecker. The light of day reveals the ugly details hidden by the night. What a great and terrible fall.
The chapter closes with the prophet going back to the House of God. “Jeremiah then returned… and stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people”. Do not miss that, even in the midst of calamity the Word of Truth is given in the House of God. “Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them”. What was the source of the problem? “They were stiff-necked and would not listen to My words”. Sound familiar? Jesus came to this shattered world to bring restoration. Even the woman caught in the very act of adultery was lifted up with these words, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). Jesus came to put all things back together again. To those in a scrambled mess, Jesus said, “Blessed… are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28). To everyone one sitting on the wall alone, I say, “He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). It is time to mend.