Why Does God Send Punishment? Jeremiah 1-5

Jeremiah 5:18-24 (ESV Strong's)
18 “But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.’

Why Does God Send Punishment?

The prophet Jeremiah was sent to the nation of Judah to proclaim to them that God was going to send judgment upon them from the “north.”  The north was Babylon.   The Babylonians would raid and pillage them and take them all captive.   Although there was a remnant that would remain faithful, the majority would not.  In the above text we see why.  They not only did not “fear the Lord,” they sought after other gods and ways to worship.   It is by the fear of the Lord we depart from evil.  Note:

Proverbs 8:13 (ESV Strong's)
13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 16:6 (ESV Strong's)
6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.

They treated God as other gods.   They saw no majesty in Him.  They saw no might in Him.  They saw no difference in Him as compared to the nation’s gods around them.   Yet, it was God who provided for them the rain when they needed it and the crops to satisfy them.   God sends punishment when we fail to fear Him.   They had turned away from God so He would turn away from protecting them.