Year 6, Day 85: Jeremiah 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Provision

• Provision: God gives us what we truly need.  God knows our needs better than we can know them.  We learn to trust God to provide for us.

“Buy the field, Jeremiah.”  I don’t know what Jeremiah’s reaction to all of this was, but I know what my reaction would be.  If I lived in a city that was being besieged by a foreign army and a relative came to sell his land to me, I would think him crazy.  Why would anyone buy land hen the country is under foreign occupation?

Of course, I don’t also have the vision of God.  God wants Jeremiah to buy the land as a sign to the people.  They are going into exile, but the exile will not be permanent.  There will be a time when they own the land once more.  There will be a time when life returns back to normal.  The imminent future looks bleak; the long-term future with God looks outstanding.

Notice also that Jeremiah tells Baruch to go and put the deed in an earthenware pot.  The reason is that the deed needs to last a long time.  Here’s the hidden message in that verse: while the future looks good with God, it will be a while before that future is realized.  God does provide for us and for what we truly need.  But He provides in His time when He knows it is best.  He doesn’t always provide for us on our time frame.

When I think about this chapter and the messages contained within, I think it is a great analogy for the life to come.  We are here, living in this world.  Sometimes we enjoy life and sometimes the outlook is bleak.  But we know that a time is coming when we will be with God and our outlook will be outstanding!  But that time isn’t now.  That time isn’t likely to be tomorrow, or even next month.  That eternal life with God is a way into the future.  But it is coming.  It is promised.  There will be a day when God’s full and complete provision wraps around us in His eternal presence.

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