{"id":7020,"date":"2015-10-16T00:05:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T07:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=7020"},"modified":"2015-10-15T14:02:55","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T21:02:55","slug":"life-is-not-absurd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2015\/10\/16\/life-is-not-absurd\/","title":{"rendered":"Life is Not Absurd"},"content":{"rendered":"

But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob, says the LORD,
\nand do not be dismayed, O Israel;
\nfor I am going to save you from far away,
\nand your offspring from the land of their captivity.
\nJacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
\nand no one shall make him afraid.
\nFor I am with you, says the LORD, to save you;
\nI will make an end of all the nations
\namong which I scattered you,
\nbut of you I will not make an end.
\nI will chastise you in just measure,
\nand I will by no means leave you unpunished.
\nFor thus says the LORD:
\nYour hurt is incurable,
\nyour wound is grievous.
\nThere is no one to uphold your cause,
\nno medicine for your wound,
\nno healing for you.
\nAll your lovers have forgotten you;
\nthey care nothing for you;
\nfor I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
\nthe punishment of a merciless foe,
\nbecause your guilt is great,
\nbecause your sins are so numerous.
\nWhy do you cry out over your hurt?
\nYour pain is incurable.
\nBecause your guilt is great,
\nbecause your sins are so numerous,
\nI have done these things to you.
\nTherefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
\nand all your foes, everyone of them, shall go into captivity;
\nthose who plunder you shall be plundered,
\nand all who prey on you I will make a prey. (Jeremiah 30:10\u201416)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God\u2019s people suffered for a reason. They were guilty. So why cry over the pain? God had made it abundantly clear why the awful things were happening to Judah. There could be no surprise when the nation died, when the capital burned, when the temple went up in flames. They had no choice but simply to take it. <\/p>\n

But just when it seemed there was no hope, after God himself had told them that the pain couldn\u2019t be cured, it was just at that moment that God told them not to be dismayed. God promised to restore them: their destruction was not permanent. They\u2019d get to come home some day. They wouldn\u2019t have to stay in Babylon. <\/p>\n

And as if that weren\u2019t enough, the Babylonians would suffer the same pain that the Jewish people were experiencing. Those who had plundered Israel would themselves be plundered. Those who had hurt them would themselves be hurt. God\u2019s promise came true seventy years later when the Persians conquered Babylon and sent the people of Israel back to their homeland.<\/p>\n

Suffering, for whatever reason, is never an end unto itself. Life is not absurd or meaningless. God has a purpose whether we see it or not.<\/p>\n

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But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob, says the LORD, and do not be dismayed, O Israel; for I am going to save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7020"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7022,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020\/revisions\/7022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}