Today, I’ve had a nice, relaxing day of listening to a Christian podcast, reading apologetics, theology and the book of Jeremiah. Well, only the first four chapters so far – it’s hardly the shortest book in the Bible. The book of Jeremiah is probably most well-known for this promise:
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11, New Revised Standard Version [NRSV])
And boy, when you’ve read the opening few chapters, you really need that hope to hold on to! In the opening chapters, God pours out judgement over Judah and reminds them of just about everything they’re doing wrong. It takes a while. It’s not pretty. But it shows God to be trustworthy, righteous and faithful. Two passages in particular stuck out to me as I read. The first is the call of Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations:
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”Then said I:
“Ah, Lord GOD!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”But the LORD said to me:
“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me:
“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”
(Jeremiah 1:4-12, New King James Version [NKJV])
So what’s so amazing about that? God calls a young prophet, not just to Judah, but to the nations. Nothing particularly special, you might think, especially if you think of Samuel, who was young himself. What is so great about this passage is the reassurance God gives to Jeremiah in this passage. Jeremiah points out that he is young and that people won’t listen to him, but God replies, and He says that He has put God-appointed words in Jeremiah’s mouth, He has set Jeremiah as a prophet over the nations. He has annointed Jeremiah, and in that, he has great power. And so Jeremiah just does it. No more protestations. He just gets on with it, and God says, “You have seen well”. We have great power when we do God’s work. He is faithful to His word. We can trust Him. Wow.
Then, there’s another passage in the midst of God’s judgement on Judah that stuck out to me:
For thus says the LORD:
“The whole land shall be desolate;
Yet I will not make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn,
And the heavens above be black,
Because I have spoken.
I have purposed and will not relent,
Nor will I turn back from it.
(Jeremiah 4:27-28, NKJV)
So, in the midst of judgement, of declaring that Judah will be ravaged, where this faithful, trustworthy God? It’s clear that He is righteous, for that is the precise reason that He is declaring judgement. He makes is quite clear to the people of Judah that He is righteous and they are not. But what really struck me was the last sentence, where it says, “I have purposed and will not relent, Nor will I turn back on it”. It’s easy to remember the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God in the good times, but isn’t it also reassuring to know that when God chastises us, when He allows us to go through bad times, He sticks to his guns?
Our God is no flip-flopper. He is true to His word. He doesn’t make false threats. He might give us a way out, but if we don’t take it, he will follow through. What a trustworthy, righteous, faithful God we have!
