Let us hold unswervingly to the faith we profess, for the One who promised is faithful.
(Hebrews 10.23)
This is a story about a man named Jeremiah. Jeremiah was not a very happy man since the call that God had put on his life put him in an unfavorable position with many people. He felt pretty socially awkward, you see, because he always had bad news to share with the people who lived around him. And it was bad news that God had told him to share. It made Jeremiah sad and mad and frustrated. He regretted the day God gave him life. However, God showed great compassion to Jeremiah. He allowed Jeremiah to complain and whine and cry and never once revoked His call from Jeremiah's life. God showed Jeremiah great faithfulness by reminding Jeremiah of His great promises for the people that He loved (including Jeremiah and his rebellious neighbors).
At one point, God told Jeremiah to share with the people the upcoming destruction of their land. This did not make Jeremiah happy, but he knew what his job was. God was deeply saddened and angered by the disobedience of the people, especially since He had tried to show them the way to real life and true joy but they had chosen other pursuits instead. Jeremiah was being sent to all sorts of nobles and royalty and important people to tell them God's plan for the city. No one really believed Jeremiah or heeded his advice.
In the midst of all this, God told Jeremiah to buy some land in the city. Jeremiah was a little iffy on this but he recognized God's voice when he heard it, and he didn't want to be among his disobedient neighbors, so he did what he was told. Just then, Jeremiah's cousin came to him, offering to sell him some land.
Jeremiah went through with the purchase and felt confident as he heard God reassure him. "Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. Life is going to return to normal. Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land."
Now, just because Jeremiah was an obedient and faithful worker for God did not mean that he always understood why God did what He did. Jeremiah understood that displaying faith often meant acting even in uncertainty. But that didn't stop him from confronting God with this uncertainty.
"Dear God," Jeremiah prayed, "You created earth and sky by Your great power—by merely stretching out Your arm! There is nothing You can't do. You're loyal in Your steadfast love to thousands upon thousands—but You also make children live with the fallout from their parents' sins. Great and powerful God, highest above anything else that is worshipped, determined in purpose and faithful to see Your plans completed, You see everything that men and women do and respond appropriately to the way they live, to the things they do.
"'You performed signs and wonders in the country of Egypt and continue to do so right into the present, right here in Israel and everywhere else, too. You've made a reputation for yourself that doesn't diminish. You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders—a powerful deliverance!—by merely stretching out your arm. You gave them this land and solemnly promised to their ancestors a bountiful and fertile land. But when they entered the land and took it over, they didn't listen to you. They didn't do what you commanded. They wouldn't listen to a thing you told them. And so you brought this disaster on them.
"Oh, look at the siege ramps already set in place to take the city. Killing and starvation and disease are on our doorstep. The Babylonians are attacking! The Word you spoke is coming to pass! And yet you, God, the Master of the universe, even though it is certain that the city will be turned over to the Babylonians, also told me, Buy the field. Pay for it in cash. And make sure there are witnesses.'"
And God responded to Jeremiah, “Stay alert! I am God, the God of everything living. Is there anything I can't do? No doubt about it, I'm handing this city over to the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He'll take it. The attacking Chaldeans will break through and burn the city down: All those houses whose roofs were used as altars for offerings to Baal and the worship of who knows how many other gods provoked me. It isn't as if this were the first time they had provoked me. The people of Israel and Judah have been doing this for a long time—doing what I hate, making me angry by the way they live.
"This city has made me angry from the day they built it, and now I've had my fill. I'm destroying it. I can't stand to look any longer at the wicked lives of the people of Israel and Judah, deliberately making me angry, the whole lot of them—kings and leaders and priests and preachers, in the country and in the city. They've turned their backs on me—won't even look me in the face!—even though I took great pains to teach them how to live. They refused to listen, refused to be taught. Why, they even set up obscene god and goddess statues in the Temple built in my honor—an outrageous desecration! And then they went out and built shrines to the god Baal in the valley of Hinnom, where they burned their children in sacrifice to the god Molech—I can hardly conceive of such evil!—turning the whole country into one huge act of sin.
"But there is also this Message from me, the God of Israel, to this city that is being ravaged by Babylon. Watch for this! I will collect them from all the lands to which I will have driven them in my anger and rage and indignation. Yes, I'll bring them all back to this place and let them live here in peace. They will be my people, I will be their God. I'll make them of one mind and heart, always honoring me, so that they can live good and whole lives, they and their children after them. What's more, I'll make a covenant with them that will last forever, a covenant to stick with them no matter what, and work for their good. I'll fill their hearts with a deep respect for me so they'll not even think of turning away from me.
"Oh how I'll rejoice in them! Oh how I'll delight in doing good things for them! Heart and soul, I'll plant them in this country and keep them here! I will certainly bring this huge catastrophe on this people, but I will also usher in a wonderful life of prosperity. I promise. Fields are going to be bought here again, yes, in this very country that you assume is going to end up desolate—gone to the dogs, unlivable, wrecked by the Babylonians. Yes, people will buy farms again, and legally, with deeds of purchase, sealed documents, proper witnesses—and right here in the territory of Benjamin, and in the area around Jerusalem, around the villages of Judah and the hill country, the Shephelah and the Negev. I will restore everything that was lost.”
Jeremiah was feeling very encouraged by what he heard from God. God’s promises never fail and here He was promising to bring His people back to their land and back to their lives. Jeremiah didn’t see it on the horizon and he couldn’t figure out the how of God’s plan, but he chose to trust.
A little while later, God shared more with Jeremiah. “Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own. This is what God, the God of Israel, has to say about what's going on in this city, about the homes of both people and kings that have been demolished, about all the ravages of war and the killing by the Chaldeans, and about the streets littered with the dead bodies of those killed because of my raging anger—about all that's happened because the evil actions in this city have turned my stomach in disgust.
"But now take another look. I'm going to give this city a thorough renovation, working a true healing inside and out. I'm going to show them life whole, life brimming with blessings. I'll restore everything that was lost to Judah and Jerusalem. I'll build everything back as good as new. I'll scrub them clean from the dirt they've done against me. I'll forgive everything they've done wrong, forgive all their rebellions. And Jerusalem will be a center of joy and praise and glory for all the countries on earth. They'll get reports on all the good I'm doing for her. They'll be in awe of the blessings I am pouring on her.
"Yes, you're going to look at this place, these empty and desolate towns of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, and say, "A wasteland. Unlivable. Not even a dog could live here." But the time is coming when you're going to hear laughter and celebration, marriage festivities, people exclaiming, "Thank God. He's so good! His love never quits," as they bring thank offerings into God's Temple. I'll restore everything that was lost in this land. I'll make everything as good as new. This coming desolation, unfit for even a stray dog, is once again going to become a pasture for shepherds who care for their flocks. You'll see flocks everywhere—in the mountains around the towns of the Shephelah and Negev, all over the territory of Benjamin, around Jerusalem and the towns of Judah—flocks under the care of shepherds who keep track of each sheep.' God says so.
"Watch for this: The time is coming when I will keep the promise I made to the families of Israel and Judah. When that time comes, I will make a fresh and true shoot sprout from the David-Tree. He will run this country honestly and fairly. He will set things right. That's when Judah will be secure and Jerusalem will live in safety. The motto for the city will be, "God Has Set Things Right for Us." God has made it clear that there will always be a descendant of David ruling the people of Israel and that there will always be Levitical priests on hand to offer burnt offerings, present grain offerings, and carry on the sacrificial worship in my honor.
"If my covenant with day and my covenant with night ever fell apart so that day and night became haphazard and you never knew which was coming and when, then and only then would my covenant with my servant David fall apart and his descendants no longer rule. The same goes for the Levitical priests who serve me. Just as you can't number the stars in the sky nor measure the sand on the seashore, neither will you be able to account for the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who serve me.
"Have you heard the saying that's making the rounds: 'The two families God chose, Israel and Judah, he disowned'? And have you noticed that my people are treated with contempt, with rumors afoot that there's nothing to them anymore? Well, If my covenant with day and night wasn't in working order, if sky and earth weren't functioning the way I set them going, then, but only then, you might think I had disowned the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, and that I wouldn't set up any of David's descendants over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But as it is, I will give them back everything they've lost. The last word is, I will have mercy on them."
Sometimes I feel like Jeremiah, looking out on a land that often seems desolate and destroyed. I see this place and I wonder what good can come out of it. But then I turn and look with faith. Look to the promises that God has made and I feel comforted and reassured. God is calling us to rebuild, to buy land and make this place new. God is moving and using His people to bring restoration to this place. He is a God of restoration and faithful promises.
