Upsetting and Uplifting

Our verses for today are from the period of about 586 BC to 538 BC, about 50 years.  During this time Israel is under the rule of the Babylonians, and the people are suffering greatly. 

 Their leaders have been largely executed, publicly executed.  Their children have been forced into slave labor, they are being abused sexually, and are being starved, starved to the point that they resorted to cannibalism.

For many years they were warned that God would judge them for their disobedience. but they ignored the many warnings.  Like a child with a loving father who does not want to punish his child, they mistook God's continued patience to mean that they would never be punished.  God gave them many warnings over many years but at a certain point, the time for patience ended, and the time for punishment began.

How did the Israelites react to being punished?  How do we react when God punishes us?  How should we?

Support the show