“Look, dad! It’s an almond tree.” At that moment, Jeremiah’s thoughts raced back to a word from his God. It was an image and a word he never forgot. Every time he saw an almond branch, he remembered this promise. God was watching to see that his Word would be fulfilled. That was what God had told him:
The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” (Jeremiah 1:11-12).
To understand why Jeremiah would have made this connection and why it was such a powerful connection, you have to learn something about the Hebrew words. See, the Hebrew word for “almond” sounds a lot like “watching” in the Hebrew language. God deepened this phonetic connection for Jeremiah by making this connection and this promise. This was Jeremiah’s rainbow, his sign from God that would remind him of God’s promise. God would keep his Word. He would do what he said he would do. He was watching so that it would all take place and be fulfilled.
We need to take a look at this branch from the almond tree for just a moment and let its truth sink in. God’s Word and his promises are 100% sure because God is faithful 100%. It reminds me of the Dr. Seuss's poem “Horton Hatches the Egg.” I’ll spare you the details, but Horton the elephant vows to sit on an egg until it hatched:
But he sat on the egg and boldly would say,
“No matter WHAT happens, this egg must be tended!”
In the same way, our God tends his Word, and all of his promises and bold says, “No matter WHAT happens, my word will be completed. My promises will be fulfilled. Nothing and no one can stop them.” Every word and every promise of his will be fulfilled. He is faithful. Thoroughly. Fully. Completely. This is why his Word to us in Jeremiah 17 is such a powerful and important word for us. Because God is faithful, he can be trusted. And since he can be trusted, then we can take and enjoy the Sabbath. He can be trusted, but do we trust him? That’s the question we’ll wrestle with this Sunday as we dig into Jeremiah 17:5-10, 19-27.
Don’t forget that this weekend, we turn our clocks back! We’ll have fresh coffee and a powerful message of rest in Jesus for you.
Here is one of the new hymns we’ll be singing this weekend: Almost Home by Matt Papa
For all other news and notes, check out “The Mount Weekly.”