Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz
But King Zedekiah is between a rock and a hard place: Surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, going to Babylon, or fight for the City of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah sees the faithfulness of God towards His people, He knows and has warned Zedekiah and the people that a battle for the City would be fruitless. Their only hope of living was to go to Babylon. So in the midst of such difficult choices, Jeremiah is also given a chance to do something God’s way: as prophesied, his nephew Hanameel (i.e. God is gracious) comes with a proposal for Jeremiah to redeem his field in Anathoth.
The law of redemption fell to Jeremiah as the nearest relative, and he did secure the field of his nephew in his own name.
Faced with a no win situation, how does God ask us to proceed? Do we cut our losses and look for the nearest escape, or do we follow God’s laws and work with His plan for us? How faithful has God been to us in the past?
Jeremiah saw only one path forward, and that was to follow God’s directives, for this field in Anathoth was in the City of Jeremiah’s birth, and its name means “answers to prayer.” It was the right thing to do, and it became the reason to make yet another plea to God.
Concerning God, the writer says in Hebrews 6:19 -
“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
steadfast, and that which entereth into that within the veil.”
Today's Audio Message: "Trials of Redeeming"
In chapter 32, Jeremiah, who is in prison for his prophecy, purchased a piece of land signifying, that though Jerusalem was besieged, and the whole country threatened to be laid to waste, that the time would come, when houses, and fields, and vineyards, would once again be possessed by them. His people would be in captivity for 70 years in Babylon by God's hand. But the promise of return is also His promise.
God's ways are many times not our ways, and when we find ourselves perplexed by His methods, like Jeremiah, we look to who He is, and trust Him. God who is the fountain of life, and power; is there really anything too difficult for Him? He is a God of boundless mercy; and righteous justice; and all of His ways, he directs for the best...our best!
The Jews captivity was brought by their own sin, and though judgment is upon them, God has a plan of redemption and restoration. Whatever trouble we are in, we may comfort ourselves that the Lord sees it, and knows how to remedy it. We must not dispute God's will, but yield to it.
