The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Jeremiah 33-37
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 7: Kings and Prophets: The southern kingdom as God’s people
Background Information: Jeremiah 33-37
Jeremiah was confined in a jail cell when God spoke to him again. What did God tell him? A reminder that the one speaking to him was the maker of heaven and earth. Surely this didn’t have any news value to Jeremiah. Why tell him the obvious? When we are suffering and confused, we usually don’t need new information. Instead, we need to be reminded of old truth. In what was surely an uncomfortable cell, probably exposed to the elements and suffering abuse from his own people, Jeremiah needed to remember who God is and what he is capable of. Second, God told Jeremiah to ask for insight that was beyond normal human ability to comprehend. When we are stuck in our own suffering, troubles, and confusion, we need to turn to God’s word over and over again. We need to remember who God is, and we need to hear God’s word, in the Bible, telling us the truths we could not discover on our own. Things like the truth that God will make all things new. The truth is that, meanwhile, we groan, the day will come when our groaning will cease. We don’t need new truth; we need to be continually reminded of the old truth. In Jeremiah’s persecuted confinement, which reflected what was coming for the nation at large, God reminded him and the entire nation that he would restore them in the future. Their sin brought God’s judgment, but it did not short-circuit God’s promise. A branch would come from the root of David; nothing can stop the maker of heaven and earth from fulfilling his covenant promise. We can no more break God’s New Covenant promise than we can stop the covenant between day and night. Every single time the sun sets, and the sun rises, we should remember that the God (who has called the light day, and the dark night) is in charge of human history. Remember, Jeremiah is arranged thematically, not chronologically. We have the narrative of the fickle and unfaithful people who obey God by releasing the slaves, then change their minds and re-enslave them. Then we are taken to the narrative of the Rechabites, who keep a commitment they have made to an ancestor. This commitment is far less important than obedience to the covenant, yet the people are able to keep to it. This reminds us of what God said to the people as they prepared to enter the land all those years earlier.
“This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.” Deuteronomy 30:11.
On the one hand, obedience to God’s word is not beyond our reach. We have no excuse for not being faithful. On the other hand, full obedience is beyond our capability; sin has rendered us unable to be faithful. We come face to face once again with this great biblical tension. We are to fully trust Christ, knowing that it is by grace through faith alone that we are saved. At the same time, we are to give full effort to train for godliness. We fully trust and we faithfully train. We keep this tension by keeping our focus on God’s revealed word to us, rather than our current life circumstances.
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Ask God to use the Getting Ahead program provided by Hopenet to help Youth Horizons families break the cycle of poverty. Pray for empowerment mentors. Ask God if you should volunteer to become an empowerment mentor.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.