“O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the Lord,
“For I am with you.
For I will make a full end of all the nations
Where I have driven you,
Yet I will not make a full end of you;
But I will correct you properly
And by no means leave you unpunished.”(Jeremiah 46:28)

God tells Israel that while He will discipline them, He will destroy their enemies. Such is the difference between the suffering of believers and unbelievers. Believers may suffer for a time, but unbelievers will suffer forever. This is also why Asaph did not long envy the wicked, who appeared to be prospering all around him. Everything seemed to favor the wicked,

Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their end (Psalm 73:17).

Believers, however, have a glorious hope for which we wait patiently. But as we wait, God, as a loving Father, does not leave us to disobey Him but disciplines us so that we might grow in a right way. Thus, we read in Hebrews:

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives (Hebrews 12:5-6).

The purpose of God's discipline is that we might be holy as He is holy. When we respond correctly to God's discipline and reform our attitudes and our behaviors, then we can experience the peace of God in living the righteous life that God desires all His children to live:

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:10-11).

Therefore, dear friends, let us not stiffen our necks like disobedient Israel in the days of Jeremiah. God eventually restored them in spite of their rebellion, but those that refused correction did not enjoy the benefit of this restoration. Instead, let us be humble and diligent to reflect on what the Lord wants us to learn from the trouble He brings into our lives in order to discipline us. Even righteous Job, whom God declared as the most upright person in all the world, had something to learn from his suffering and loss:

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6).J

Even though Job may not have had a specific sin to confess, he certainly had a more enlightened understanding of who God was and grew in his perception of divine justice. 

Therefore, let us open our hearts and eyes and ears to God's Word, so that we might discern the lessons from the discipline of God in our lives:

Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:11-12).

Jeremiah 46-50 give us God's judgment oracles against the nations surrounding Israel, from Egypt to Babylon, and all the small nations in between. Every nation will be judged for their wickedness, some with the hope of future restoration, but others completely destroyed. We gain a sense of God's power, holiness and wrath over the nations in these oracles:

This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord (Jeremiah 45:4-5).

One interesting thing in these oracles against the nations is a conspicuous absence of a call to repentance. While every oracle against Israel is accompanied by calls to repent, there are no such calls to the nations. This too shows a distinction God makes between His chosen people and the other nations of the world. God would justly judge them, even in their ignorance of God's mercy and grace. 

Friends, it is our good fortune (or perhaps better, God's sovereign providence) that we have the privilege to know Him while so many others live and die in ignorance of it. Let us celebrate God's grace to us, who did not deserve it. We are no better than the worst of sinners, but for reasons beyond our knowing God chose us to reveal His glory in salvation. We have nothing to boast in ourselves, neither in our works, nor in our faith, but only in God. To Him be all the glory forever and ever. Amen!