I Hear You, But...

Jeremiah took it upon himself to get Judah right with the Lord.   This might be kind of like, on a smaller scale in numbers, one of us trying to turn our country to God.  Granted, God did not make the conditional promises to the USA that he did to Israel and Judah.  Side note, 2 Chron. 7:14 is not directly tied to our land.

God told them then, "if...My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Here's the problem, they did not humble themselves; they did not pray and seek God and turn from their wicked ways of idolatry.  Jeremiah makes the case very clear so far in the first ten chapters of his book. 

And then in chapter 11, the hammer falls, "though they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them."  I seriously do cringe and shutter at the thought of God not hearing cries for help.  But keep in in the right context.  He knew what they wanted, and longed for, but it was too late.  They had been warned over and over again.

God is so very true to His Word.  He justly punishes His people, and just like a child who is punished and cries out in the midst of the punishment, so it was with Judah.  They got pretty serious about forsaking their idolatry when they realized God was indeed serious.  After Bablyon, that is no longer a problem for them.  But for Jeremiah, to have to bring this news to God's people, well, it pretty much fell on deaf ears. 

When we take a stand for the Lord, and trust me, we are no "Jeremiahs", it might seem like nobody cares.  Sure, we have our fellow Christians, but really, who else cares?  Doesn't matter.  Timothy is told by Paul in 2 Tim. 4, preach the Word, in and out of season.  Whether we feel like it or not, and whether our audience is receptive or not, speak the truth, in genuine love and caring, of course, but remember Who is in charge, and He's got our back.