Jeremiah 44:20-25: a reflection

20Then Jeremiah said to all the people—to the men and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying, 21“The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t the LORD remember them, and didn’t it come into his mind? 22Thus the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today. 23Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the LORD’s voice, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is today.” 24Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the LORD’s word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! 25The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, “We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.” “‘Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.’

This is one of the more chilling exchanges in Jeremiah. The people who fled to Egypt are determined to keep worshiping the queen of heaven, and they say so openly: we will certainly keep the vows we have made to her. They are not wavering or ashamed; they have decided, and they defend it. And Jeremiah's response is heavy with sober irony: very well, then, confirm your vows and keep them.

Notice what is happening in that line. It is not permission; it is a kind of handing-over. The people have set their hearts so firmly on their chosen course that God, through Jeremiah, lets them have it, with all its consequences. There is a point where a heart becomes so fixed in its refusal that the frightening judgment is simply to be given what it insists on. Go ahead, keep your vows, and reap what follows.

That should make us examine where we have dug in. Is there some area where you have quietly decided, made up your mind, and now defend rather than repent, where correction bounces off because the heart is set? The danger is not only the sin itself but the hardening that will not be turned. Do not let your heart reach the place where God says, very well, have it your way. Stay tender enough to be corrected, today, in the thing you have been defending.

Lord, keep my heart from hardening into a refusal you finally hand over to. Where I have dug in and defend rather than repent, keep me tender and correctable before you today.