but if he have caused grief, he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses
Jeremiah wrote these words in the ruins of Jerusalem, about a God whose hand he had felt himself. The verse holds together two things we keep apart: God sends the grief, and God gives the compassion, measured by His mercies and not by what we deserve.
This is not comfort offered from a safe distance. One writer points out that the prophet could speak to the broken city because he had been through the trial first.
He has passed through seasons of trial, so he can tell Jerusalem what he has found, and that knowledge is of great value. If he had only entered the trial along with Jerusalem, he could have said what he expected. His expectations might have been right, and his forecast of the future correct. But that would have given no comfort like the experience he gained… All the comfort here comes from the Lord's known character. That is a wonderful rock to stand on, when everything that has happened has been fully deserved.
The word "though" admits the grief instead of denying it. But the grief has a boundary, and that boundary is what makes endurance possible.
This confirms hope, and without hope there is no power to endure and no comfort either. His corrective judgments on Israel have a measure, and they will come to an end. The same is true of His righteous government of us now.
God has a purpose in the blow: our holiness. So He is neither careless nor slack. He never strikes for nothing, and He never skips a stroke that is needed.
He does not discipline us for His own pleasure, but so that we may share in His holiness. He is too loving to lay one unnecessary burden on us. He is too holy to leave out one needed stroke.
If God does not want to afflict, why does He? One writer answers that His own love forces His hand.
And this is the God we have to deal with. He is cruel for a moment, so that He may be kind from then on and for ever. He does not afflict willingly, and He does not grieve the children of men. If He must afflict, it is His love that forces Him, because He does it to do good in the end to those over whom His rod has been lifted.
God struck through human hands, but that did not excuse those hands. One writer keeps the two apart.
The Lord has full authority to act as He wills. If He did not afflict willingly, then He did not approve of the oppression and injustice that men committed, even though they were the appointed executioners of His wrath… No one can override His will. No one can defeat His purpose.
This truth changes how a person acts under the blow. It sends him toward the One who struck him, and it names the one real danger in suffering.
He feels that it is good to be afflicted, and to wait on the Lord who strikes him: for the Lord will not cast off for ever. He does not afflict willingly, but out of necessity. Why complain about the discipline that sin brings? It is better to turn to the Lord… An affliction like this ought to be felt. The only harm comes when we let it weaken our confidence in the Lord.
Some people use this verse to argue that no punishment from God can ever be final. One writer answers them by asking who these words speak to.
Even those who know scripture least will know that these words speak to Israel. God loves this people dearly, yet He has set them aside for a time. They were unfaithful, and they firmly refused the salvation He offered them in Christ. But God's word testifies that He will restore them once more to these privileges as His people on earth.
- Grief — the verse names God as the cause of the pain, not a bystander who watched it happen.
- Measure — the discipline has a limit and will end, and that limit makes endurance and comfort possible.
- Motive — He does not afflict willingly; He is "too loving to lay one unnecessary burden on us" and "too holy to leave out one needed stroke."
- Multitude — He measures His compassion by His own mercies, not by what we deserve, so the comfort outlasts the wound.
- Response — wait on the One who strikes; feel the affliction, but never let it shake your confidence in Him.
for he doth not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.
Jeremiah writes while the ruins of Jerusalem are still smoking. Standing in that wreckage, he says something startling about God: the grief came from God's hand, but not from His pleasure.
The ESV says God does not afflict "from His heart." Older translations read "willingly." One writer keeps both readings, and sets the verse beside the compassion promised just before it.
God may cause grief — deep and heart-rending. But He will still "have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love. For He does not afflict willingly (or, from His heart), nor grieve the children of men." He does not chasten for His own pleasure. He chastens so that we may share His holiness. He is too loving to lay on us one unnecessary burden. He is too holy to leave out one needed stroke.
If the affliction does not come out of God's heart, something else must move Him to it. One writer names it plainly, and turns the verse into an argument against complaining.
He feels that it is good to go through affliction, and to wait on the Lord who strikes: for He will not cast off forever. He does not afflict willingly, but from necessity. Why complain of the chastening of sin? It would be better to turn to the Lord.
If God is under a necessity, the question is what applies the pressure. One writer answers that the pressure is love itself.
And it is with such a God as this that we have to do; cruel for a moment, so that He may be kind from then on and forever. He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. If He must afflict, it is His love that compels Him. His aim is to do good in the end to those over whom His rod had been lifted.
Because God takes no pleasure in the stroke, the stroke has a boundary. One writer ties this to hope, and applies it to Israel and to believers now.
This confirms hope. Without hope there is no power to endure and no comfort either. God measures His judicial chastenings of Israel, and they will come to an end. The same is true of His righteous government of us now.
That limit is not random. Take the woman of Shunem, who lived through seven years of famine. One writer uses her story to show what ends a season of trial.
The discipline she went through had indeed produced the "peaceful fruit of righteousness" in her exercised soul. God does not prolong discipline longer than is needed. "He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." Wherever the trial has reached its object, upheld His holiness and truth, and taught its lesson, He withdraws it.
Jeremiah could not plead his own innocence. The ruin around him was deserved. One writer points to where the comfort comes from instead, and to what God's unwillingness says about the men who carried out the blow.
"For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." What cheering announcements these are, coming from a man who had been in the deep waters of affliction. But all the comfort here comes from the Lord's known character. That is a wonderful rock to stand on, when everything that has happened has been fully deserved. The Lord has full authority to act as He pleases. But if He did not afflict willingly, He did not approve of the oppression and injustice men practised, even though they were the appointed executioners of His wrath.
The verse gives no explanation now. One writer looks ahead to the day when God goes back over the whole path with us.
All His ways are equal. It is only man's defective sight that makes it appear otherwise. At last He will take us by the hand and go over the whole path with us. He will let the light of His own glory shine on every step. Then we will understand, as we cannot now, how just and true all His ways were as He led us through this scene.
- Hand — the affliction really is from God; the verse never denies the blow, it denies the motive behind it.
- Heart — He does not afflict "from His heart." He is too loving to add one unneeded burden. He is too holy to withhold one needed stroke.
- Necessity — He afflicts from necessity, not willingly; and what compels Him is His love, aiming at good in the end.
- Measure — because the motive is love, the discipline has limits. When the trial has done its work and taught its lesson, He withdraws it.
- Hope — the comfort rests on the Lord's known character, not on our deserving. One day He will walk us back over the whole path, and every step will look just.