Undeserved Grace

{Jeremiah 32}

Disobedient. Idolatrous. Defiant. Back-slidden. An abomination.

They didn’t deserve grace.

God had promised “to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” And now His hand of judgment was raised.

Yet after listing all their sins and the punishments which were to be meted out, the tenor of His words change.

“I will bring them back again. I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be my people. I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way to know me forever. I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will not turn away from them. I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. I will rejoice over them. I will plant them in this land with my whole heart and my whole soul.”*

I will. I will. I will.

Why is God so willing to do all these things for an ungrateful, contemptible nation?

I find only one answer.

Love.

Love always wins. Consequences may come, but Love will always prevail.

True, the nation of Israel didn’t deserve grace, but neither did we…

Remember No More

{Jeremiah 31}

“And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”*

A quote from Hebrews with direct correlation to Jeremiah 31. Paul mentions this verse twice within two chapters.

no. more.

Let that sink in for a moment.

In the Greek it’s a double negative, in the sense that it’s strengthening the force of denial. 

Not at all. By any means. Ever. From this moment on.

He cannot even bring it to mind. It’s gone forever…

And yes, there’s a myriad of other details in this chapter that justifiably could be mentioned, but I think these three words say it all. Because when God forgives and makes you clean, the truth of absolute pardon can change your life forever.

He remembers no more. Your sinful past is obliterated. 

And He means it.

*{Hebrews 8:12}

Healed Wounds

{Jeremiah 30}

God had inflicted a serious wound. Not out of anger, but out of love. 

Yet because of their ugly injury, all so-called friends of the nation had fled. 

Not one offered medicines of healing. Not one pled for their cause. Israel was an outcast.

Yet that was exactly what Israel needed.

For in the pain and loneliness of feeling utterly forsaken and mortally wounded, they finally sensed their need. 

The concept shared with me by friends seems to jump out at me from the page.

Only when we are broken can we be blessed and transformed.

The Administer of punishment now promised to bind up the very wounds He had inflicted. To heal their bruises. To restore health and that, more abundant than before.

The yokes of bondage were broken. 

The nation that had held them captive so long set them free.

Blessings of fruitfulness and multiplied families were given.

Laughter was again heard within the homes of Jerusalem.

Yes, their wounds were healed by the Giver’s hand. Unfortunately the lessons God sought to teach them didn’t remain fresh in their memory, yet only because they forgot Him again in their prosperity.

--

My vision is expanded. I see new possibilities, thanks to friends who were willing to share. Our experience doesn’t have to follow their example of repeated failure. My brokenness can be my restoration, my transformation. My wound, the cause of healing. My sorrow, my joy.

Through brokenness I can find blessing and in the blessing, forever restoration.

Found!

{Jeremiah 29}

After seemingly endless declarations of His people’s heartless rejection, it’s a breath of fresh air.

A herald of restoration. A token of forgiveness.

My face breaks into a smile. 

“Ye shall… find Me.”

There is always a tenor of jubilation when something, or someone is found.

But to find Him? There is no greater joy…

We may discover Him through a variety of means, yet only by earnest seeking can He truly be found.

So seek, and you will find…

He promises.

Yokes of Love

{Jeremiah 26-28}

Sometimes God has to take radical measures. 

Sometimes our hearts are too stubborn to be sensitized and softened by gentler means. 

Sometimes it takes a yoke of iron…

He pleads. He intreats. He promises.

Yet sometimes words just fly past our shoulders. 

I think the concept of being yoked has become distorted. We tend to see the negative connotations when that is only part of the definition.

In reality though, a yoke is merely an instrument used to harmonize the work of two into one. To find surpassing strength of two combined rather than one alone. To give greater power, greater synergy and accomplish greater results.

It may be that we break the wooden yoke, yet God just gently replaces it with an iron one. Not in a tyrannical display, but in love alone. The yoke has a purpose in our training.

And isn’t that truly what I desire? To be so yoked with Christ that my every act is in harmony with Him? To find His surpassing strength and the results that accompany it?

Seventy Years

{Jeremiah 25}

Seventy. Perfection’s number plus a zero.

Yes, even this banishment evidenced greater love on the part of their Savior. 

Nothing He does is without purpose.

Yet because of the great knowledge He had given them, which they had spurned, their punishment must be in proportion.

What He longed for most was for this experience to act as a purging fire to purify them from all that has previously separated His adopted children from their Father’s side. For them to emerge from captivity rejoicing not only in physical freedom, but spiritual freedom in Him. 

He desired perfection for His people more than anything else…

And the same is true for us today.

There is nothing that God desires more than for us, as His representatives, to become perfect through His strength.

And it doesn’t have to take seventy years…

Naughty Figs

{Jeremiah 24}

I remember first reading this passage as a young girl and finding the wording highly amusing. Naughty figs? I guess I had just always correlated the word “naughty” with the word “children.” I laugh now at my naivete. I was subsequently enlightened to the fact that the old English definition was “bad” and so my vocabulary expanded. Nevertheless, that phrase from Jeremiah was indelibly fixed in my memory.

Yet looking at this passage again with a broader understanding and closer examination, I find in two baskets of figs something of deeper significance.

A basket of rancid figs. A basket of ripe figs.

Symbolic representations of the people of Israel. Those taken into captivity and those left behind.

And I begin to ponder the fact that the good figs are representative of those in captivity. 

It seems strange. For wouldn’t the captives be represented by the bad figs?

Yet perhaps freedom is not appreciated without captivity. 

Perhaps captivity was but a means to awaken them from their spiritual slumber. 

Perhaps blessings could not be appreciated without the experience of captivity and the jubilation of release.

Despite the temporary benefits of captivity however, God’s people were not destined to remain slaves. Freedom was theirs, if they would but claim it.

My unfocused gaze is directed out my window as I contemplate my own life. Am I still in captivity?

I have to admit the realization is altogether possible. Yet the experience of being a captive has taught me many lessons. 

It has allowed me to relate to other captives. 

It has taught me the value of freedom. 

It has taught me lessons of warfare. 

It has shown me Love in a way otherwise impossible.

And so I am in gratitude for captivity. Yet I am in greater gratitude for freedom, although it might not be fully mine yet.

For after the horrors of captivity, freedom is truly sweet…