Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, June 28, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I don’t believe in a punishing God. So how do I square so much punishing language in the Bible? I’m not an authority. Not an ordained minister. Not a published theologian. All I can say is what I think and invite you to wonder about your own theological ideas. What I think is that the Bible is full of people (generally men) reflecting their experience of God through their own human lenses. Jeremiah has been reading the people the riot act over their complete failure to live as God would like, which involved carrying out justice for the poor and oppressed, and letting go of wealth and privilege. Needless to say, his message wasn’t well received. Jeremiah could see the writing on the wall. He knew that the end result of Judah’s astonishing hubris would be its downfall. He knew that Babylon was on the threshold and invasion was inevitable. It just made sense to him that said invasion was the natural consequence of Judah’s rejection of God’s call. So he framed it as such.
Personally, I think God was crushed that it would come to this. God just wanted God’s people to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. If they’d only done that and kept their heads down, maybe Babylon would’ve left them alone. Maybe not. In any case, God would feel every iota of pain along with the people. Why would God want to self-inflict harm? It’s not in God’s nature. If we truly believe God shares our place, feels our sorrows and our griefs, and rejoices in our joys, then we have to believe that God does not desire pain for us. But that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Do I believe God punishes people? Why or why not?
