Episode 44: Jeremiah 33:3
Transcription
Today’s verse is Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Let’s pray together.
God, the thing that strikes me about this verse is that Jeremiah is receiving this word from you while he is being held prisoner by his own people. All he did was tell them the truth and weep for their pain, but they treated him contemptibly. Disaster is imminent for Jerusalem. Captivity is coming. But they wouldn’t listen to You, to Your plea for communication with You.
Help my ears to be open so that I don’t miss what You’re saying. No matter what direction Your words are coming from, Your help, Your direction, Your provision, Your instructions, Your conviction, help me to hear what You want to tell me. This way I don’t spend seventy years in captivity, I don’t heap consequences of reckless actions on my own head, this way I don’t grieve Your heart.
Jeremiah foretells the suffering and the trials that his people would go through, but help us not to stop reading with that, God. Because in this chapter You also use him to foretell restoration and a new life. Once they had gone through the consequences of their actions, there was joy on the other side. Too often, I stop with the consequences. I forget how generous and kind You are. I forget how much You actually want to be with us and to provide for us.
What I love about these words, Jesus, is that You ask us to call out to You, but You promise to answer us. We are not calling into a void. You hear our prayers and they are important to You. You ask for and want to hear them. You want to spend time with us. You want to share things with us. You will always answer, and it’s usually our fault when we don’t hear that answer. Train us, discipline us, improve us in how to hear Your voice.
I am in awe that You promise to reveal the mysteries of the universe to us. There are great and unsearchable things we cannot find out on our own. They really are too amazing and too wonderful for us to know. Our human minds can’t comprehend them. But still You promise to reveal them and to explain them and to make them ours. Our lives are not just a long toil of drudgery and service, but because You are with us, they are full of delight and wonder. You created a beautiful world for us to play in and You delight in our joy.
Jesus, the most wonderful thing You can explain to us is Yourself. It’s You we want to understand and know. It doesn’t matter that no matter of time will fully do that, the pleasure is in the experience and the journey. There is no final destination in You. You will always have more to teach us and more to show us of who You are. We never have to reach the painful end of knowing You. It is forever.
Let’s start now, God. Let’s spend the time now. I don’t want to waste another minute on anything else. I get so distracted by the things You made and the abilities You gave, that I forget the Creator and I misplace my wonder. Let me enjoy this world because You made it and because it showcases who You are. May I enjoy and love the people in it because they are images and pieces of You. I ask for a renewal of our relationship, a deeper love to be forged, and an intimacy of connection beyond our wildest human imagination.
Reveal to us where You are. Help us to come to You. We need that help because it’s too hard for us on our own. You already provided a bridge of Your blood, so help us to cross it. Ease our fears and focus our attention on You. Remove the obstacles that would try to keep us from You, the dark interference and hatred of our enemy. Send the magnificent Holy Spirit to be our guide. Don’t let us look back.
Forgive me any time I do and any time I say that I love anything else more than You.
We really aren’t worth much except as Your creation. We are worthy because You say we are. It’s certainly nothing we have earned on our own. I still don’t know why You want to have such a close and personal relationship with us, but I’m not complaining. I don’t want anything else. Help me when I’m tempted to stray from that.
God, our Father, thank You. Jesus, our Lord, thank You. Holy Spirit, our Friend, thank you.
I pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
