Our God wants us to imagine our life with him and his life with us. He wants us to picture it and see it with our mind’s eye. He does that because he wants to help us see our lives as they really and truly are. A few weeks ago, God spoke to us with the image of a yoke before us so that we see ourselves living under him, under the circumstances of our lives, under the authorities whom he has placed over us. He wants us to imagine our lives and see that he is the one placing the yoke over our shoulders, ruling over us and our lives the way that only he can.
This week, he sets before us the image of a father. We’re getting into the sweetest parts of Jeremiah now, and you’ll begin to sense the hope rising in the texts that we study and the Scriptures that we hear. God is our Father. And if he is (which he is through Jesus, our Savior), then we are his children. And our Father is good. He is kind and compassionate, good and gracious, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.
But what about the Babylonian exile? God sold his people out and gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. That doesn’t seem to be a very fatherly thing to do.
What about our exile here? As we’ve said over the last few weeks, we’re living in a world that is less and less Christian. We’re making our way during a time and in a place that is more and more hostile to Christianity. That’s the world in which we live. And God allows that, even sends that? That doesn’t seem to be a fatherly thing to do.
But God is our Father, and even the painful things that he allows and/or sends into our lives serve his good purposes. He will not let it crush us. He only works through it for our faith, our trust, our growth, and most of all, our eternity. This week, we’ll be looking at Jeremiah 30:10-17, and we’ll catch a vision of God as our Father, working even through painful things for our good. How will that shape the life/lives that you live for him?
We’ll see you Sunday! Pastor Nate