Jeremiah 18:11-17: a reflection

11“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘The LORD says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.”’ 12But they say, ‘It is in vain; for we will walk after our own plans, and we will each follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’” 13Therefore the LORD says: “Ask now among the nations, ‘Who has heard such things?’ The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 14Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 15For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. They have been made to stumble in their ways in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up, 16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head. 17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

God, through Jeremiah, calls his people to turn from their evil ways, holding out a chance to avert the coming judgment: Return now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. But their response is a chilling resignation: But they say, It is no use; we will walk after our own plans, and each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart. They give up on repentance before they even try, resigned to following their own stubborn way. It is hopeless, they say, so we will just do as we please.

Notice the tragic attitude: It is no use. God offers them a way to turn and be spared, and they respond not with repentance, but with a defeated, defiant resignation, as though change were impossible and there were no point in trying. This fatalism, it is hopeless, I cannot change, so I will just follow my own way, refuses God's call before even attempting to heed it. It is a giving up on repentance disguised as realism.

That attitude is a real danger. We can fall into a kind of despairing resignation about our own sins and patterns, telling ourselves it is no use, I cannot change, this is just how I am, and so refusing even to try to turn. But this fatalism, however realistic it feels, is a refusal of God's call and of the change he offers. Do not say, it is no use. When God calls you to turn from something, do not respond with defeated resignation, as though change were impossible. God who calls you to repent also gives the grace to change. Do not give up before you begin; heed his call, turn, and trust him for the change you cannot make on your own.

Lord, when you called your people to turn from their evil ways, they responded with a defeated resignation: it is no use; we will follow our own way. Guard me from that fatalism. I can fall into a despairing resignation about my own sins and patterns, telling myself it is no use, I cannot change, this is just how I am, and so refusing even to try to turn. But that attitude, however realistic it feels, is a refusal of your call and of the change you offer. When you call me to turn from something, keep me from responding with defeated resignation, as though change were impossible. You who call me to repent also give the grace to change. Do not let me give up before I begin. Help me heed your call, turn, and trust you for the change I cannot make on my own.