Bad things happen for protection - Jeremiah 47-52

Sometimes God allows bad things to happen so that we are protected, or His interests are protected. In this final section of Jeremiah we see that the prophet is proclaiming the doom on the surrounding nations, especially Babylon. In each indictment Jeremiah explains that God is doing this to that nation because of their pride and failure to believe on God. However, God has used these nations, especially Babylon, to punish the Jews for their own disobedience and pride. At the end of the book, however, there is a very interesting commentary on the last days of the nations autonomy. When Babylon comes to take the final captives captive, the Babylonians ransack the temple. The take all the precious items that Solomon had overlaid with gold in his day that were used for the purpose of worshipping God. We might think this is just a common act of theft and expected when a nation is pilfered. If the items would have been left there, however, who knows what would have happened to them. Instead they are taking back to Babylon and put into the royal safe. It would be almost 75 years later, when Ezra returns to rebuild the temple that the items would be taken from that very safe and put back in the temple (Ezra 1:5-11) They would be kept by the unbelieving world, as though the items were their security, only to be used by Israel after their confinement. God used the unbelieving world to keep His treasures safe. The Babylonians meant it for evil but God meant it for good. God used Babylonia as a safety deposit box. Sometimes God allows bad things to happen only to later reveal His hidden meaning and purpose. Let's rejoice in what God can do via bad circumstances ... but let's also look for the things He is doing in them to fine His true will and purpose.