Promises, promises.

I don’t write a Bible Study or devotion blog, but I do like to share what I’m reading or thinking about. Right now, that’s Jeremiah.

I listen to Daily Audio Bible as part of my devotions (almost) every day. I started listening in January and have found that I really love hearing the Bible as a change from reading. We have an Old Testament reading, a New Testament one, and then a Psalm and a Proverb each day.

We’ve been in Jeremiah for the last two weeks or so. I love Jeremiah–he’s definitely my favorite prophet, and this might be my favorite book in the Old Testament. I love that he was young when called, and goes through some odd trials, and stays faithful and just keeps telling the truth. In the last few days, three sections have stood out for me, and I’d like to share them.

In Jeremiah 18, God tells Jeremiah to go see a potter, and then God describes Himself as the potter. God is going to have to treat Israel the same way that a potter treats a spoiled vessel. God used this illustration to say, “Look! I’m a potter, and I’m shaping some pretty bad stuff for you. Change your evil ways!”

So here’s what I love: A potter shapes a vessel by applying pressure from the inside and the outside. The image of God as potter is so useful when I think about the ways God tries to change my heart. He works on my from the inside AND the outside, from quiet whispers to my heart and the life circumstances that I find myself in. He uses them TOGETHER to work me into a vessel that pleases Him.

Now I’ll jump to Jeremiah 29. Did you know that Jer. 29:11 is the most searched verse on Bible Gateway? Sure enough. Haven’t we all heard it as a young person we love is being launched into a new phase of life, like confirmation or graduation? It seems so reassuring:  God has this, God has a plan and you just need to find it. Except, that isn’t exactly the context.

Jeremiah has just gotten done telling the nation of Judah that they are about to leave Jerusalem. Not for a couple of months, or one or two years, but for 70 years. The people who leaving aren’t coming home. And it’s not a vacation. They are being exiled by Babylon, sent to live in a foreign land. But the message God give Jeremiah is hopeful: Yes, it is bad–but you must go through this to be the people I know you can be. Go and build your homes, plant gardens, marry and have children, find husbands and wives for your children. Then, one day, your children will come home. And then God says: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Think of that–the people are being exiled but God speaks and says that I have a plan. I will use this circumstance to help build your future. Do NOT lose hope.

And then, two verses later, he says the most hopeful verses of all: “If you seek Me with your whole heart, I will let you find me…” That’s the plan! That is what God truly desires for all of us. Here God is, speaking into the darkest situation the Hebrews can face. The siege ramps are being built. The soldiers are massing outside the walls of Jerusalem. And yet God reassures His people that if they will only seek Him, there is reason for hope. A reassurance of crops and homes, children and grandchildren and a return home.

This hasn’t been an easy fall in our home (I’ve had shingles, remember? STRESS), and when I realized the whole context of this verse, the richness and the promise, I just grabbed it and held on. Even in the dark times God promises good, He promises He has a plan.

Finally, in Jeremiah 32, we find the city of Jersualem right at the tipping point of the siege. Jeremiah is imprisoned because, as usual, the king doesn’t like what Jeremiah has to say. Out of nowhere, Jeremiah’s cousin shows up and asks him to buy his field. Now what this cousin was really after was some money, because once the kingdom of Judah goes into exile, this land will be worthless. And Jeremiah is in jail anyway! But God says to Jeremiah, “Buy that land!” and Jeremiah does. He carefully records the deed in front of multiple witnesses and seals the documents in a strong clay jar.

Later, Jeremiah says to God, “I don’t get it! Why buy this land that will be worthless to me soon?” And God says, “It won’t always be worthless. You did it as a sign that the day is coming when people will buy and sell land again. You are coming back.”

A promise. The barbarians (or Babylonians, in this case) are literally at the city gates, and God is still trying to get Jeremiah to focus on the promise that is coming.

I love that these stories, not new to me, are standing out in a different way as I listen to them. If you are looking for a different way to experience a quiet time, I’d love to invite you to join me and thousands of others who download the podcast every day. And I’d love to hear how you have read or heard an old story in a new way!