Today we sit in prison beside the prophet Jeremiah as he wrestles with trying to understand what God is up to. Jeremiah serves the Lord at a time when Jerusalem is being attacked by the Babylonians. He is in prison because he told the King and leader of the day exactly what was going to happen, they would be handed over to their attackers; they did not like the message, so they put the messenger in jail.
It’s not always easy being God’s messenger…yet that is Jeremiah’s calling. He’s thrown in jail. I like the little story about a messenger in a movie. The production company was filming an English language movie, but in order to add authenticity, they wanted a few lines in the Swahili language ~~ a messenger is scripted to dash in, collapse, and gasp out a vital message to the plotline. They found a man who knew Swahili… the director was so pleased with the scene, that is, until it was shown in an African town where Swahili was well-known. A moment of high drama nose-dived into comedy as the panting messenger gasped out: "I don't think I am being paid enough for this part!"
It’s not always easy being God’s messenger…yet that is Jeremiah’s calling. He’s thrown in jail. I like the little story about a messenger in a movie. The production company was filming an English language movie, but in order to add authenticity, they wanted a few lines in the Swahili language ~~ a messenger is scripted to dash in, collapse, and gasp out a vital message to the plotline. They found a man who knew Swahili… the director was so pleased with the scene, that is, until it was shown in an African town where Swahili was well-known. A moment of high drama nose-dived into comedy as the panting messenger gasped out: "I don't think I am being paid enough for this part!"
As we sit beside Jeremiah, I can hear him saying the same thing: “God, I’m not getting paid enough to be your messenger, you’re asking the craziest things of me, and look at me now in prison.” At times it is hard being a follower of God because the visible rewards of obedience can be hard to see. I did not sign up to follow you only to be rejected, to have problems, to be thrust into situations I never imagined. We imagine obedience to God will bring great benefits and a life of peace and joy, but that is not always the case…
I won’t take too much of the time going over the specifics of Jeremiah’s story because this is a single message out of our corona virus weeks, Prison Gems. It’s enough to know Jeremiah is in prison for the offense of speaking an unpopular message from God the king did not like. I love Jeremiah as a model of faith because he is realistic: it’s like he is always obedient to God even when he doesn’t understand God. When Jonah was asked to speak for God he didn’t like it and ran in the opposite direction. Jeremiah is obedient, he just grumbles... Of all the prophets, I imagine Jeremiah doing the Nettie Bos thing when Denny tells her one more of his crazy plans for the day… [sigh….] Is this really my calling God? This isn’t what I signed up for… I’m not getting paid enough to be your servant Lord….”
This message comes from 2 chapters of Jeremiah that more or less cover one of Jeremiah’s stints in jail, Jer. 32-33, ~~ we’ll focus on two verses of amazing truth that can be plucked out of the story that tell us something incredible about God. What God affirms in prison to Jeremiah is the same truth we need to hear again and again and again as when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, when we feel like we’re not getting paid enough, when we start to wonder what in the world is God calling us to do. These two inspiring verses can stand all alone:.
Before I reflect on these two verses ~ how they have the power to help us make it through each day, a detail about another crazy crazy crazy thing God asked of Jeremiah. I love Jeremiah because he is obedient to God even when God asks him to do what appears, from our perspective, to make no sense.
Jer. 32:2 give us the setting. READ. Jer. 32:3 tells us why the King put Jer. In prison. READ. Being the messenger of God is not always easy... Now the crazy part… Jer. 32:6-15, from our perspective, make zero sense. Jerusalem is under attack. God has just told Jeremiah they will be defeated. These next verses instruct Jeremiah to buy land from his relative…That’s crazy. To top it off, Jeremiah pays top dollar! “Hey [chad, jake…] I’m selling my Carl’s Buffet Restaurant… only $500,000….” Who in their right mind would pay top dollar for a buffet restaurant during the corona virus. Who in their right mind would pay top dollar for property while in jail, the city under attack, knowing the nation will be enslaved. God, I’m not getting paid enough to do this ~ it’s your message and I’m in jail paying top dollar for worthless land…
Sometimes we have a hard time knowing what God is up to….
Jer. 32:16-25 is Jeremiah’s prayer in response. Jeremiah is conflicted. He starts out trying to convince himself God is amazing. “Nothing is too hard for you” he says in Jer. 32:17. On and on Jeremiah speaks of how amazing God is, READ Jer. 32:19-20a. Jeremiah knows in his head there is nothing God can’t do, but his heart is confused. at the end of this prayer the crack in the armor of pure trust is revealed, I like the way NLT says it… Jer. 32:24-25 READ. that sound like me… I’m still trying to find my way in how to respond to this corona virus… I know in my head God can do anything, but in my heart I don’t get all the details…
Many times people have explained to me the reason they can’t be Christians is because of evil in the world, their vision of God is pure love. And I’m thinking to myself, I agree in a large measure of what they see, I don’t like evil either, yet I try to have enough of a smidgeon of trust to believe God knows what he is doing even if I can’t fully grasp it… For over 30 years I have tried to be a pastor that listens to peoples doubts without making them feel like something is wrong with them… Jeremiah is an amazing person of faith, yet he harbors doubt…
This moment in Jeremiah’s faith of believing yet confused is like the man who cried out to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)… “I know you can do all things,” Jeremiah proclaims, “but I don’t get why you had me buy property as the whole world crumbles.”
Jeremiah is obedient even when he doesn’t get what God is up to… to keep on being faithful even when the world is so different from anything you expected or knew…
God responds to Jeremiah…READ Jer. 32:26-27. the rest of ch. 32 God affirms Israel will be captive; then God explains why he had Jeremiah buy the property: the day will come when Israel will return ~ property will be bought and sold again. READ Jer. 32:43-44a. This insight brings peace to Jeremiah. It’s still a hard calling, but God brought understanding to Jeremiah’s doubts and questions.
[sidenote: mixed opinions of what the world will look like post corona virus stay home orders… I have no divine message, but I think it’s interesting in this case of Jeremiah, as Israel faces decades of slavery, the vision is that the day will come when normal will return, the buying and selling of land…]
God now proclaims to Jeremiah an enduring promise ~ a beautiful invitation: READ Jer. 33:3. That’s directly for us… Jer. 33:3 is a standing promise from God. READ.
The rest of Jer. 33 is an avalanche of God’s amazing promises, including what we now know is the coming of Jesus Christ. READ Jer. 34:14-15…
Jeremiah started by proclaiming, “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.” He wanted to completely believe that, but he had doubts, feeling sorry for himself, like the actor who substituted his own line: “I don’t think I’m getting paid enough for this part.” God took Jeremiah statement and enlarged it… “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Our questions are welcomed by God, and God in his infinite love and wisdom answers in way beyond our questions… “I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
I love it when people have questions of God, those who want to believe, but they have questions. I almost always wish I had better answers, but I love the questions because doubt is real, confusion is common, it is a hard world… The thing is is that the deepest answers from God are greater than our questions, beyond the assumptions we make. Jeremiah made the statement, God picks it up in the form of a question, and as God answers, there is a shift in understanding….
Jeremiah made the statement, “nothing is too hard for the Lord” with a sprinkle of self centeredness…he wanted to know why God had him buy property. We are missing the fullness of God if the purpose of believing in God’s ability to do anything is about pleasing me, organizing the craziness of my existence and how I would run the world. Nothing is too hard for the Lord, but in order to fully grasp what that means, we need to shift our thinking so that we allow God to do it his way, not mine.
Centuries later Jesus modeled this truth when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died on the cross: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Amazement with the Lord increases as our hearts begin to grasp that nothing is too hard for the Lord means it is always his decision as to what and how he chooses to demonstrate that power. I may not get the corona virus, it is the craziest thing that seems to be tearing apart our families and society and world, yet I have to trust God that he can do anything according to his timing, his purposes, his way, his choice… God’s answer to Jeremiah is to shift from Jeremiah’s purposes to his purposes… Nothing is too hard for the Lord and he’ll accomplish everything that he ordains. God is all powerful….isn’t it crazy when we decide this is only true if he acts according to our plans…
Nothing is too hard for the Lord. It’s more true than we can even fathom. Don’t give up on yourself, never give up on other people…because God doesn’t. Wrestle with God until your heart can hear what he is up to… Nothing is too hard for the Lord, and it’s his purposes that will prevail. We may feel like we aren’t getting paid enough, that our world is too hard and confusing, which is when we need to go to the Lord and listen to him not for what we want to hear, but what he wants to tell us… God will bring you through any trial, any doubt, confusion…as we find peace in his purposes. bring your big problems to the Lord, and bring your little problems. The Lord is able to bring clarity, understanding, peace… big and little…
May the truth that nothing is too hard for God cause you to keep on serving him even when you wonder what’s going on. Remain faithful in difficult situations knowing he will deliver you in his way, in his timing, for his purposes. Peace will increase as we learn to seek understanding from God’s perspective of what he’s up to, not trying to get God to cooperate with our plans. As we wrestle with God, he will reveal “great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
I won’t take too much of the time going over the specifics of Jeremiah’s story because this is a single message out of our corona virus weeks, Prison Gems. It’s enough to know Jeremiah is in prison for the offense of speaking an unpopular message from God the king did not like. I love Jeremiah as a model of faith because he is realistic: it’s like he is always obedient to God even when he doesn’t understand God. When Jonah was asked to speak for God he didn’t like it and ran in the opposite direction. Jeremiah is obedient, he just grumbles... Of all the prophets, I imagine Jeremiah doing the Nettie Bos thing when Denny tells her one more of his crazy plans for the day… [sigh….] Is this really my calling God? This isn’t what I signed up for… I’m not getting paid enough to be your servant Lord….”
This message comes from 2 chapters of Jeremiah that more or less cover one of Jeremiah’s stints in jail, Jer. 32-33, ~~ we’ll focus on two verses of amazing truth that can be plucked out of the story that tell us something incredible about God. What God affirms in prison to Jeremiah is the same truth we need to hear again and again and again as when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, when we feel like we’re not getting paid enough, when we start to wonder what in the world is God calling us to do. These two inspiring verses can stand all alone:.
- #1: READ Jer. 32:26-27… #2: READ Jer. 33:3…
Before I reflect on these two verses ~ how they have the power to help us make it through each day, a detail about another crazy crazy crazy thing God asked of Jeremiah. I love Jeremiah because he is obedient to God even when God asks him to do what appears, from our perspective, to make no sense.
Jer. 32:2 give us the setting. READ. Jer. 32:3 tells us why the King put Jer. In prison. READ. Being the messenger of God is not always easy... Now the crazy part… Jer. 32:6-15, from our perspective, make zero sense. Jerusalem is under attack. God has just told Jeremiah they will be defeated. These next verses instruct Jeremiah to buy land from his relative…That’s crazy. To top it off, Jeremiah pays top dollar! “Hey [chad, jake…] I’m selling my Carl’s Buffet Restaurant… only $500,000….” Who in their right mind would pay top dollar for a buffet restaurant during the corona virus. Who in their right mind would pay top dollar for property while in jail, the city under attack, knowing the nation will be enslaved. God, I’m not getting paid enough to do this ~ it’s your message and I’m in jail paying top dollar for worthless land…
Sometimes we have a hard time knowing what God is up to….
Jer. 32:16-25 is Jeremiah’s prayer in response. Jeremiah is conflicted. He starts out trying to convince himself God is amazing. “Nothing is too hard for you” he says in Jer. 32:17. On and on Jeremiah speaks of how amazing God is, READ Jer. 32:19-20a. Jeremiah knows in his head there is nothing God can’t do, but his heart is confused. at the end of this prayer the crack in the armor of pure trust is revealed, I like the way NLT says it… Jer. 32:24-25 READ. that sound like me… I’m still trying to find my way in how to respond to this corona virus… I know in my head God can do anything, but in my heart I don’t get all the details…
Many times people have explained to me the reason they can’t be Christians is because of evil in the world, their vision of God is pure love. And I’m thinking to myself, I agree in a large measure of what they see, I don’t like evil either, yet I try to have enough of a smidgeon of trust to believe God knows what he is doing even if I can’t fully grasp it… For over 30 years I have tried to be a pastor that listens to peoples doubts without making them feel like something is wrong with them… Jeremiah is an amazing person of faith, yet he harbors doubt…
This moment in Jeremiah’s faith of believing yet confused is like the man who cried out to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)… “I know you can do all things,” Jeremiah proclaims, “but I don’t get why you had me buy property as the whole world crumbles.”
Jeremiah is obedient even when he doesn’t get what God is up to… to keep on being faithful even when the world is so different from anything you expected or knew…
God responds to Jeremiah…READ Jer. 32:26-27. the rest of ch. 32 God affirms Israel will be captive; then God explains why he had Jeremiah buy the property: the day will come when Israel will return ~ property will be bought and sold again. READ Jer. 32:43-44a. This insight brings peace to Jeremiah. It’s still a hard calling, but God brought understanding to Jeremiah’s doubts and questions.
[sidenote: mixed opinions of what the world will look like post corona virus stay home orders… I have no divine message, but I think it’s interesting in this case of Jeremiah, as Israel faces decades of slavery, the vision is that the day will come when normal will return, the buying and selling of land…]
God now proclaims to Jeremiah an enduring promise ~ a beautiful invitation: READ Jer. 33:3. That’s directly for us… Jer. 33:3 is a standing promise from God. READ.
The rest of Jer. 33 is an avalanche of God’s amazing promises, including what we now know is the coming of Jesus Christ. READ Jer. 34:14-15…
Jeremiah started by proclaiming, “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.” He wanted to completely believe that, but he had doubts, feeling sorry for himself, like the actor who substituted his own line: “I don’t think I’m getting paid enough for this part.” God took Jeremiah statement and enlarged it… “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Our questions are welcomed by God, and God in his infinite love and wisdom answers in way beyond our questions… “I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
I love it when people have questions of God, those who want to believe, but they have questions. I almost always wish I had better answers, but I love the questions because doubt is real, confusion is common, it is a hard world… The thing is is that the deepest answers from God are greater than our questions, beyond the assumptions we make. Jeremiah made the statement, God picks it up in the form of a question, and as God answers, there is a shift in understanding….
Jeremiah made the statement, “nothing is too hard for the Lord” with a sprinkle of self centeredness…he wanted to know why God had him buy property. We are missing the fullness of God if the purpose of believing in God’s ability to do anything is about pleasing me, organizing the craziness of my existence and how I would run the world. Nothing is too hard for the Lord, but in order to fully grasp what that means, we need to shift our thinking so that we allow God to do it his way, not mine.
Centuries later Jesus modeled this truth when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died on the cross: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Amazement with the Lord increases as our hearts begin to grasp that nothing is too hard for the Lord means it is always his decision as to what and how he chooses to demonstrate that power. I may not get the corona virus, it is the craziest thing that seems to be tearing apart our families and society and world, yet I have to trust God that he can do anything according to his timing, his purposes, his way, his choice… God’s answer to Jeremiah is to shift from Jeremiah’s purposes to his purposes… Nothing is too hard for the Lord and he’ll accomplish everything that he ordains. God is all powerful….isn’t it crazy when we decide this is only true if he acts according to our plans…
- God is not a roaring lion that we can put on a leash…
- God is not a genie waiting to grant our wishes….
Nothing is too hard for the Lord. It’s more true than we can even fathom. Don’t give up on yourself, never give up on other people…because God doesn’t. Wrestle with God until your heart can hear what he is up to… Nothing is too hard for the Lord, and it’s his purposes that will prevail. We may feel like we aren’t getting paid enough, that our world is too hard and confusing, which is when we need to go to the Lord and listen to him not for what we want to hear, but what he wants to tell us… God will bring you through any trial, any doubt, confusion…as we find peace in his purposes. bring your big problems to the Lord, and bring your little problems. The Lord is able to bring clarity, understanding, peace… big and little…
May the truth that nothing is too hard for God cause you to keep on serving him even when you wonder what’s going on. Remain faithful in difficult situations knowing he will deliver you in his way, in his timing, for his purposes. Peace will increase as we learn to seek understanding from God’s perspective of what he’s up to, not trying to get God to cooperate with our plans. As we wrestle with God, he will reveal “great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
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