"But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and
gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth" (Psalm 86:15).
I am so glad God is the way this verse describes. Can you
imagine if God treated us as harshly as He could? As severely as His holy
standards require? We are weak, and we constantly fall short of what we ought
to do and be. Sometimes those failures are small and routine, and sometimes
they are of epic proportion. Yet God has patience and compassion. He forgives
us and encourages us and helps us to grow. One way God shows His longsuffering
is through repeated statements and reassurances.
Last week I considered Abraham. God didn't require Abraham's
faith to cling to a single revelation of His promise. No, God reminded Abraham
over and over again, building his faith. I count eleven different times when
God repeated His promise, some of them occurring on the very same day! (12:1-3;
12:7; 13:14-17; 15:1; 15:4-5; 15:7; 15:13-16; 15:17-21; 17:1-8; 17:19-21; 18:10)
Abraham is not the only person for whom God did this type of
repeated reassurance. God sent multiple signs to fearful Gideon, assuring him
over and over again that He would be with him. Through the long years of
preparation and exile, God reminded David of His promises. After Peter's
failure, Jesus repeated statements that indicated God's desire to use Peter
again. And there is a special story in the life of Jeremiah, a despised prophet
with a very long ministry that seemed to yield no fruit.
This story happens in Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah had been
prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem for over forty years. At the moment
this story takes place, Jeremiah was in prison, and the city of Jerusalem was
under siege, with ramps already placed against the city walls. Destruction was
imminent.
In the midst of this hopeless situation, God asked Jeremiah
to do something that seemed ridiculous. God
told Jeremiah that a cousin would come and ask him to buy a piece of land.
Jeremiah was to proceed with the purchase. Jeremiah’s mind was filled with
questions. He wondered why God would lead him to purchase property when all
properties were about to fall into the hands of the enemy.
The
cousin did come just as God had predicted. He asked Jeremiah to buy the
property, and Jeremiah complied. After the proceedings had been finalized and
Jeremiah was again alone, he turned to prayer. He acknowledged truth: "Ah
Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power
and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee" (Jeremiah 32:17).
He then speaks of God's historic working with Israel and of Israel's rebellion,
leading to the imminent destruction. Jeremiah then comes to a conclusion that
sounds like a confusion-laden question rooted in hopelessness. "And thou
has said unto me, O Lord GOD, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses;
for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans" (v. 25).
In
other words, "God, you just told me to do something that doesn't make
sense. You made a big deal about the ceremony involved to make this land
purchase public and official, but it's about to be taken away by the Chaldeans!
This seems like a silly action and a hopeless situation."
God
responded to Jeremiah's doubt by reinforcing the words Jeremiah himself had
spoken in v. 17. God said, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh:
is there any thing too hard for me?" (v. 27). God continued speaking. He
agreed with what Jeremiah had said regarding Israel's history of rebellion. He
agreed with Jeremiah's assessment of imminent destruction.
Then
God did something really interesting. He quoted Jeremiah's protests back to him.
In v. 36, God says in essence, "You say the city is about to fall to
Babylon," and in v. 43, "You say that this field you bought is going
to be desolate and captured." Jeremiah's protests (or doubts) were about
why God would ask him to do such a pointless act. Why invest in land that he
would own for such a short time?
God had
an answer for Jeremiah. In vs. 42-44, He assures Jeremiah that future
restoration was just as certain as the imminent destruction. There was a reason
for Jeremiah to buy land, and it was as a sign that this land would return
again to the people of Israel. God's people would again buy and own property in
this soon-to-be-captured kingdom.
In
addition to God's repeated reassurances to Jeremiah and His pointed responses
to the specific doubts that had come from Jeremiah's own mouth, the situation
itself also provided Jeremiah with hope. This particular slice of Jeremiah's
life was an incredible demonstration of God's repeated faithfulness.
Jeremiah
could look at his recent past. God had said a cousin would come with the offer
of land, and he had in fact done so. Jeremiah could look at his present. God
had said that the city would be destroyed, and it was happening before
Jeremiah’s eyes. If God fulfills His word in the past and the present, is there
any reason to doubt He will do so in the future by restoring the land? God
gives that very argument in v. 32: "Just like I brought the predicted evil,
I will bring the predicted good" (paraphrase).
There
is no reason to doubt God. He has always done what He has said, and He always
will do what He has said. No matter how impossible a situation looks, God’s
Word can be trusted. Nothing is too difficult for God. He is powerful enough to
fulfill all that He is bold enough to declare. And He is gracious enough to
work with our weaknesses and respond to our doubts with repeated reassurances
of His love and faithfulness. If we doubt that God gives such comforting
repetition, all we have to do is look back over the course of our lives to see
the evidence, or better yet, pick up the Bible and start reading. Praise God
for His patient faithfulness!
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holtmember at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment