The Promises and Purposes of God
Nov 17 Jeremiah 33:1-11 12|13
Do you ever run into people who say they aren’t interested in what God has to say because it’s always negative? That God is always negative, is of course, not true, but what they really mean is perhaps that the messages that come from God’s representatives often appear that way. And they equate what God’s reps say, with God. That is understandable reasoning except that it doesn’t include other variables needed for other real possibilities.
As was often the case throughout history between kings and prophets, it is ours here in Judah. The prophet Jeremiah was simply relaying the message God was instructing him to relay. It however was not one king Zedekiah wanted to hear. And others accused Jeremiah of pandering to and giving in to the enemy. There was not to be any more resistance to the enemy, but rather a submission to and a going along with them to their homeland, into exile. These are terms a patriot does not want to hear and yet in this instance it was in fact what God was saying BECAUSE, God himself had raised up the enemy against Judah to be used as an instrument of His judgment against Judah.
God’s truth and methods override our preferences and sensibilities. God’s declarations of reality supersede our view of how we think circumstances should be. God’s judgments are always right and His purposes are interwoven in them. And we see God purposes played out in His responses to our aligning with His promises and in our turning our backs on His promises – in our obedience and in our disobedience.
There comes a point of diminishing returns or as Kansas would call it, a point of no return when a people has lost its option of turning back. And yet after some time, (this time, 70 years) God in His mercy, will yet allow them to return to their land that was first given to them by Him. In a little more than a generation, God’s representative people would be brought back because He promised it and because they would turn their hearts again to Him.
And so it is today. And as long as it is still called ‘today’, do not harden your hearts and continue to encourage one another so no one is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and develops an unbelieving heart (Hebrews 3). In the age to come, there will be no todays because all will be made new and time will not be as it is now. There will be no yesterdays or tomorrows.
It is also important to note that God’s so-called representatives do not always accurately represent Him. This is important to take into consideration when weighing the truthfulness of any statements. All statements must be put on the scales and weighed according to the truths that have already been revealed to us in the Bible as a whole. This will help us not jump to conclusions or withhold needed judgment.
