Reflection: Jeremiah and International Development

WCIU Journal: Community and Societal Development Topic

November 18, 2020

by Beth Snodderly

This “Reflection” is an excerpt from my book, Chaos Is Not God’s Will: The Origin of International Development.. It is also part of the Scripture as International Development series.

The prophet Jeremiah called desperately for rebellious Israel to return to God. But God’s people foolishly refused to know and obey God. Their moral values were completely reversed: “They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good” (Jer. 4:22). As a result of their disobedience and the resulting absence of God’s Spirit, the land became empty, shaken, ruined, shattered. “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty (tohu wabohu); and at the heavens, and their light was gone” (Jer. 4:23). Creation was being undone in a sense. The earth will mourn and the heavens will be dark because of this judgment on God’s people.

Holistic international development engages opposition to God’s purposes at all levels of existence: personal, spiritual, societal, physical, and across cultures. Chaos—wherever it is found—is not God’s will. Medical missionary Robert Hughes, in Shillong, India from 1939–69, wrote in his journal, “This kingdom of disease, death, ignorance, prejudice, fear, malnutrition, and abject poverty [is] most surely a kingdom which ought to be overthrown by the kingdom of our God.”  Demonstration of God’s love, God’s will, and God’s glory is the responsibility of the body of Christ, so that all peoples can come to know and obey him.