To Know Him

“Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You...” (Jeremiah 32:17, NASB)

The prophet makes three great declarations here:

1. God made everything

2. He used His power and strength to do so

3. There is nothing God can’t do

People who do not realize God’s power believe in the myths of evolution and atheism. We need to know God as He is, not what we want Him to be. If we try to make God in our image, it’s only a god; not the God Jeremiah speaks of.

Ba a Tool

Thus says the LORD,
"Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD.”

Jeremiah 17:5

You very likely know several people who match the description the Lord gives here. I do. People are led to this point for different reasons: greed, ego, pride, or pleasure to name a few. We would certainly describe them as lost but being lost could be temporary. Every believer was temporarily lost once. The remedy form them could be us. Our Holy Spirit-inspired message of the Gospel instead of silence and our prayers are God’s tools to reach them. Be a tool of God’s.

Call on You

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." —Jeremiah 1:4-5 

God’s call on Jeremiah was very direct and in-person. He says, “I own you, go and do.” Not in-person, but just as direct is God’s call on us. In Ephesians 2:10 Paul writes, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” It is a call on your life that you do not have the privilege to refuse.

Correction

Correct me, O LORD, but with justice; Not with Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing. (Jeremiah 10:24)

If God were to deal with me based on His anger for the sins I’ve committed, I would have been gone before I was 8 or 9, likely. Instead He treats me, and you, graciously, righteously, justly. Can you say, “Thank You, O Lord!”

Look for His Hand

Behold, I will bring to it [the nation of Israel] health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. - Jeremiah 33:6

Israel had been devastated by foreigners, disgraced in battle, and overcome by the sin of idolatry. God promises healing, good health to the nation, peace, and truth.  A bit later God says the other nations “shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for” the city of Jerusalem (Jer 33:9). God is always faithful. In the great storms surrounding our lives, He usually finds a way to provide blessing and hope, peace and truth. Look for His hand during the trials you go through.