Jeremiah 12: 15-16 But afterwards I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own inheritance. And if these nations quickly learn the ways of my people, … then they will be given a place among my people. I never knew that God would eventually forgive and restore all the nations, even those that He used to bring destruction on Israel! He promises that after destroying the nations around Israel (and Israel, too) he will eventually restore them to their own lands. And, if they acknowledge God they will be part of His people. It’s a good thing to remember. We may not be part of the original Israel, and we may have been broken and crushed, but God promises to restore all the nations and give us a place with His people. When we become part of God’s family, through trusting Jesus with our lives, that promise is fulfilled. It’s pretty cool that God didn’t decide to crush the nations and leave them that way. Despite all they had done, he promised to have compassion on them and eventually restore them, too. Our God is forgiving, compassionate, and eternally loving.
I need to preface the verses today with a small comment: I woke up this morning struggling not to worry about our finances this next school year. I found out that we won’t be getting our annual cost-of-living raise (no surprise there), but they would be increasing our insurance rates, again. As it is, we struggle to make ends meet, and the prospect of having our income cut even more is a little overwhelming. So, this was the burden of my heart as I sat down this morning. And here is what God gave me: Philippians 4: 4, 6-7, 13 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!… Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus…For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. I can see God up there smiling as I read this morning. These verses aren’t anything new. I even have them memorized. But, for them to be part of what I’m reading this morning, when I’m trying not to worry, when I have a great need, when I greatly need peace, and when I have no idea how to be strong, is such a huge affirmation that God does care about my feelings and about the situations that I find myself in. So, I will find joy in Him, I will thank him for His many blessings (and they are numerous), and I will tell Him what I need (or what I think I need). He knows, He cares, and He’s got all the resources of this universe and millions of others at His fingertips. He sends rain to thirsty flowers and gives food to hungry birds. How much more does He love me and take care of me? I can’t decide if I want to laugh or cry. Yeah God!
The God Who Removes My Guilt (Ps. 32:5 – …And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.)The God Who Is My Hiding Place, My Protection, Victory (Ps. 32:7 – For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.)The God Who Is My Guide (Ps. 32:8 – The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.” – emphasis mine)The God Who Is My Adviser (Ps. 32:8 – I will advise you and watch over you.)The God Who Is Unfailing Love (Ps. 32:10 – Unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.)
Psalm 10:17Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will listen to their cries and comfort them. Frank Peretti wrote a book called This Present Darkness (he also wrote Piercing the Darkness). It’s amazing. For me, it changed how I viewed the spiritual realm, making it more concrete in my mind. In these books he tells the story from the character’s viewpoint, but also from the viewpoint of the angels and demons that are part of the spiritual realm that surrounds us. For example, when the saints of God finally start praying about the problem they are faced with, the angels are energized and strengthened and given the go-ahead for battle. It also shows a little of the darker side as the author imagines how the enemy’s forces subtly infiltrate our society. If you haven’t read these books, I highly recommend them. They’re a great read! That being said, those books remind me a lot of our present times. Psalm 10 talks about how the wicked in the world pretend there isn’t a God. They are full of cursing, lies, threats, mistreating those who are weaker, caring only about advancing themselves. Granted, this is a generalization because there are many good people in the world, but more and more it seems our society is shoving God and His Word and precepts under the rug, hoping that they will disappear and be forgotten. They are systematically erasing God from society. Or trying to. But God will not be forgotten. He planned this time, too. It’s not a surprise to Him. And He won’t ignore the cries of His people. He hears and sees them, even down to knowing what they hope for! Things we hope for aren’t things we usually utter aloud. They are things hidden in our hearts. But God knows these things, too. Throughout history God has come to the rescue of the helpless. Even if this is the “End Times” He will not be erased, He will not be crushed, and He will be triumphant, rescuing His children at His appointed time. These days, it can be a little scary to be a Christ-follower, especially if you follow the government’s acts. And it’s easy to live in our bubble, forgetting the world outside is making laws and setting precedent that affects our bubble. As a Christ-follower I am called to pray for our leaders, pray for the salvation and repentance of our nation, and trust God to help me when I feel helpless against the rip currents of our present world. I may feel helpless, and I may be helpless, but I serve a God who is anything but helpless, and that makes all the difference.
Psalm 9:9-10The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never abandoned anyone who searches for you. There are a couple of things that stand out to me. First, God never abandons us when we search for Him. Because He will never do this, we can trust in Him. This is a characteristic of God. He is the God Who Does Not Abandon You. I don’t know if there’s an official Hebrew name or word for that, but it’s a good name! The second thing that stood out to me is that the word searches is in present tense. We continually search for God. Have never abandoned is a different tense, saying that from the past to the present it has not happened. So, we continually search for Him and make Him our shelter and refuge. And He never abandons us. He never leaves us hanging or hides from us. He is a our shelter and our refuge, and He wants to be found by us. That’s pretty cool!
Job 42: 19When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! When he prayed for his friends his fortunes were restored. I think that’s kind of interesting. God told the friends that Job would pray for them and that God would accept his prayer and not punish them for their bad advice. So Job’s prayer was for forgiveness and mercy. Perhaps in praying for forgiveness for them and mercy, and not vengeance for their response to his plight, Job learned more about God and gave Him glory. And until Job was able to do this, showing forgiveness instead of vengeance, God held off restoring Him. This begs the question, does God wait to restore our fortunes until we learn forgiveness and mercy? Until we are obedient even in the difficult things? It would make sense.
2 Samuel 24:1, 10Once again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he caused David to harm them by taking a census. “God and count the people of Israel and Judah,” the Lord told him….But after he had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly and shouldn’t have taken the census. Please forgive me, Lord, for doing this foolish thing.” After this David is given three choices of punishment. He chooses three days of plague and 70,000 people die (which is truly the lesser of the choices, but still!). What I don’t get is, God told him to do it. Wasn’t David being obedient by doing what God told him to do? And, if he was being obedient, why did God punish him? It seems very wrong, and I can’t help but wonder what we’re missing. Surely God doesn’t tell us to do something wrong and then punish us for it. That doesn’t seem to be something a God who loves us would do. Sure, he would let us feel the consequences of our actions, but this is like my telling my son to go ahead and play with the light switches on the wall (something he’s not allowed to do), and then punishing him when he does it. Yes, God had told Israel not to take a census, but then here he is telling them to do what He told them not to do. I am thoroughly confused by this. It seems contrary to the nature of God to tell us to do something disobedient and then punish us for it (especially with a punishment as brutal as the one here). Yes, he wanted to punish Israel for turning against him, but the methodology is strange to me. I truly wonder if there’s not something in the language that we lose in translation that would make this more clear. Is you have any insight, please leave it in the comments because I’d love to know what others think.