pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: hope


by Leave a comment

Nevertheless

Reading: Ezekiel 12-16

Ezekiel 14:6 – “The LORD God proclaims: Come back! Turn away from your idols and from all your detestable practices. Turn away!”

Our reading begins with Ezekiel modeling the exile in a sign act. With people watching, he packs a bag and tunnels through the wall. Bag in tow, he heads out into the dark. Exile is coming. A few will survive to tell of their detestable practices. God then instructs Ezekiel to eat while trembling, to drink anxiously. During the siege, this will be Judah’s reality.

Some people question God’s timing. God says there will be no delay. The foolish prophets who proclaim peace and that God will be their wall – their lies will be exposed. The prophetesses who are misleading and entrapping people – God will rescue their victims. The focus then turns to those who are worshipping idols. God declares that if they come to God or to Ezekiel for prayers or for guidance, God will send them back to their idols. Yet God longs for Judah to repent. God says, The LORD God proclaims: Come back! Turn away from your idols and from all your detestable practices. Turn away!”

Noah, Daniel, and Job figuratively enter the story in chapter 14. They alone would be saved if wild animals or war or plague or famine were sent by God. These icons of the faith and virtue couldn’t even save their sons or daughters. They could save only themselves. God declares that all four tragedies are coming. Few will survive. Jerusalem is then compared to a vine. It is useful only for burning.

Chapter 16 details Jerusalem’s “detestable practices.” God recalls saving her when she was abandoned and naked. God fed and clothed and cared for her. She grew up and became very beautiful. She then prostituted herself with “all comers” – Egypt then Assyria then Babylon. Jerusalem was worse than Samaria and Sodom – so detestable that they looked righteous by comparison. Yet, in verse 60, we read, “Nevertheless…” God will one day reestablish the covenant. God will forgive their sins. Judah will then know that the Lord is God.

Prayer: Lord God, it was important for Judah to let go of false hope and to hear a call to repentance. It is important for us to be reminded that you are the only hope – our only hope, the only giver of mercy. We too will face judgment. Lead us to walk in covenant relationship with you, O Lord. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Ends with Hope

Reading: Ezekiel 6-11

Ezekiel 11:19a – “I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit in them.”

Chapter 6 addresses the consequences of Judah’s idolatry outside the temple. God will slay most of these idol worshippers. Some will escape and go into exile. God was “crushed” by the people’s “roving hearts.” They will fall by sword, famine, and plague. Chapter 7 continues this story line. God will judge Judah according to her ways. God won’t shed a tear, won’t show any pity. Those outside Jerusalem will die by the sword. Those inside will die by plague and famine. “Violent intruders” will defile the temple. Then Judah “will know that I am the Lord,” declares God.

Chapters 8-11 contain Ezekiel’s “Temple Vision.” God’s glory is in the temple as his virtual tour begins. Ezekiel is shown “terribly detestable practices” – a huge idol, 70 elders worshipping engravings on the wall, women worshipping a Babylonian god, men bowing to the sun. God then calls the “guardians of the city.” One of the six, the one in linen, is sent out to mark the foreheads of the faithful. The others follow along behind, killing all without the mark. They begin in the sanctuary and move outward from there. Ezekiel questions the depth of the violence. God is holding them accountable.

The guardian in linen is then sent out with fire from the temple chariot. He scatters fire about, burning down the city. The chariot rises up and moves to the threshold of the temple. God’s glory is on the chariot throne. There is a final confrontation with some evil and wicked men. God declares that they will die by the sword. And then God offers hope.

The exiles will be gathered back. God says, “I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit in them.” Israel will be obedient. God will be their God. Then the chariot leaves, flying east towards Babylon. The vision ends and Ezekiel tells the exiles all that God has shown him. The story ends with hope. Our story does too. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Lord God, you are almighty and all-powerful. You are just and righteous. Just as you held Judah accountable, so too do you hold us accountable. So God, create in each of us a single heart, a heart fully aligned with you. Pour your Spirit into our hearts, leading and guiding us to walk faithfully with you. Be our God. Make us into your people. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Lamenting Suffering

Reading: Lamentations 3-5

Lamentations 3:22 – “Certainly the faithful love of the LORD hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!”

Photo credit: Falaq Lazuardi

Today’s key verse summarizes the feel of Lamentations 3-5. There is hope in these words of lament. There is a hope that God isn’t utterly done with Israel. Yes, the author knows the promises of rescue and restoration, but in the depths of the suffering, hope can flicker.

Lamentations 3 is in the first person. It reads as if Jeremiah were reflecting on the hardships and trials of his life as a prophet. He has felt God’s hand against him. He has felt like God “silences my prayer.” These memories of suffering bring bitterness. He muses, “Certainly the faithful love of the LORD hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!” Hope arises, though, as he declares, “Great is your faithfulness… The Lord is my portion! Therefore I’ll wait for God.” As the chapter continues, there is an invitation to “examine our ways” and to recognize, “We rebelled.” This is step one to forgiveness.

Chapter 4 reflects on the people’s suffering. The children are thirsty and hungry. The author laments that their fate wasn’t like Sodom’s – quick and final. He laments, death by the sword would be better than death by famine. The false prophets draw some of the blame. There is reality in verse 12: “Our end had definitely come.”

The last chapter is a communal lament. They invite God to notice their disgrace. They recognize that they are burdened by past sins. Their joy is gone. They are “doomed because we have sinned.” Hope surfaces again as the community recalls how God reigns from one generation to the next. With that hope, they offer this request: “Return us, Lord, to yourself. Please let us return!” May it ever be so.

Prayer: Lord God, we too lament when we suffer justly for our sins and for our choices to be of the world. We too long to end these seasons and to return to you, our God and king. In the suffering and trial, refine us as you are working to rescue us. Draw us to you, O Lord, again and again. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Warning and Promise, Reality and Hope

Reading: Lamentations 1-2

Lamentations 2:19b – “Pour out your heart before my Lord like water. Lift your hands up to him for the life of your children.”

Photo credit: Shane Rounce

Today and tomorrow we read through Lamentations. These five acrostic poems lament the fall of Jerusalem and the suffering that followed. Jeremiah (and/or others writing in his voice) give a vivid and emotional account of this dark time in Israel’s history. Jews have read this book yearly during the month of Ab as a reminder of the consequences of sin and disobedience to God’s Instruction.

Chapter 1 opens with “Oh no!” This phrase evokes the wailing customary in a Hebrew funeral dirge. Jerusalem is personified as a woman, sitting alone, widowed and enslaved. There is no one to comfort her. She recalls the treasures that filled the palace and temple. She also laments the walls and gates being destroyed. She now feels “naked.” There is also the harsh reality of survival laid bare in these words. Hunger is prevalent. People sit on the ground and moan, fainting from lack of strength. As I envision this scene, my mind goes to places like Gaza and the Ukraine.

Running throughout chapters 1 and 2 is an acknowledgement. Israel and Judah have brought this upon themselves. Their sin, their disobedience, the false prophets – all led to this outcome. The nation who touted God’s presence, power, and might has been laid low by God’s almighty hand. Israel’s enemies rejoice. But even though God “ripped down, showing no compassion” and even though “the comforter who might encourage me is nowhere near,” there remains a faith and a hope in God. The writer encourages Israel and us to, “Pour out your heart before my Lord like water. Lift your hands up to him for the life of your children.” May this be our prayer when we find ourselves in times of suffering and hardship.

Prayer: Lord God, the reality of pain and suffering is right there. The cost of turning from you and walking in the ways of the world is laid bare today. May we read and feel these words, O Lord, as both warning and promise, as both reality and hope. May they work in us to yield faith and obedience to your will and way. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Trustworthy and True

Reading: Jeremiah 50-52

Jeremiah 51:11 – “The LORD is stirring up the spirit of kings from Media. He intends to destroy Babylon… a day of reckoning for his temple.”

The judgment oracles turn to Babylon today. Chapters 50 and 51 detail the fall of Babylon. Interwoven are words of hope for God’s people. God raises up an army from the north. This army will “decimate her land.” All living things will flee. The people of Israel and Judah will “come out together” as they seek God and “search for Zion.” They will return to the Promised Land and will “unite with the Lord in an everlasting covenant.”

Babylon – the one who gloated and plundered – will fall mightily. Her towers will collapse and her walls will come down. The “scattered sheep” of Israel will be restored to their pasture. Their sin and wrongdoing will be gone. The Lord will forgive them. But Babylon will fall! The arrogant one will stumble and be consumed by an army that is “cruel and shows no mercy.” In 51:11 we read, “The LORD is stirring up the spirit of kings from Media. He intends to destroy Babylon… a day of reckoning for his temple.” Babylon’s time has come. They will be repaid for the things they did to Zion and to the temple.

Chapter 52 is an “appendix.” Jeremiah’s words ended with chapter 51. Similar words can be found in 2nd Kings 24-25 and in Jeremiah 39. This repetition serves to reinforce Jeremiah’s role as a true prophet of God. What he spoke of about the time leading into exile came true. Therefore, all that he said about the exile and return from exile can be trusted as well. Those days are yet to come for his contemporary audience. The hope that he laid out for the exiles will help carry them through this challenging time. The same is true for us. God is trustworthy and true. We too can stand upon God’s word.

Prayer: Lord God, you bring down the proud and humble those who exalt themselves. You stand with the oppressed and the downtrodden. You redeem the wayward and cleanse the guilty. You called Israel and Judah back to covenant faithfulness and you call us to this life too. Fill us with your Holy Spirit as we seek to walk in the way of life. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Surrender and Live

Reading: Jeremiah 34-38

Jeremiah 36:3 – “Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I intend to bring upon them, they will turn from their evil ways, and I will forgive their wrongdoing and sins.”

Photo credit: Einar Storsul

Our reading opens with King Zedekiah inquiring about the future. Jeremiah tells him that Jerusalem will fall but that he’ll live. He’ll be taken to Babylon where he will die in peace. Zedekiah then makes a covenant to release all Hebrew slaves. This is done but is quickly reversed. God declares that Judah will be freed instead: free to “die by the sword, famine, and disease!” Judah will become a wasteland.

In chapter 35 we find a great contrast. God sends Jeremiah to the Rechabites. They are a nomadic family group that has long kept the commands given to their ancestor. God asks Judah, “Can’t you learn a lesson?” No, they can’t, won’t, don’t. God will bring disaster on Judah, blessing in the Rechabites.

God directs Jeremiah to record all of his words in chapter 36. Perhaps Judah will hear them and turn from their evil ways. Baruch is the scribe. Because Jeremiah is in confinement, Baruch reads the scroll in the temple. It’s then read to some officials, who tell Baruch to hide with Jeremiah. The scroll is read to King Jehoiakin, who burns the scroll piece by piece as it is read. God directs Jeremiah to make a new scroll. Jehoiakin will die without heirs.

In chapter 37 Judah gets false hope. Egypt marches our. Babylon withdraws from the siege on Jerusalem to face this threat. Egypt will return home. But Jeremiah takes the opportunity to try and see his new land. He is arrested as he exits the city and is accused of defecting. He’s beaten and imprisoned. He repeats Zedekiah’s fate to him. It provided an opportunity to ask for a prison upgrade. But there he continues to call for surrender. This leads him to be put in a muddy cistern, where he sinks. Ebed-Melech rescues him from this. The message remains the same: surrender and live, refuse and die. The message remains the same today. May we choose to surrender to God and live.

Prayer: Lord God, surrender – such a hard thing. We like control, power… We think we’re the master of our own destinies. How wrong and sinful we are. Help us to hear anew today the call to surrender to your will and way. There we find true life. Loosen our grips, open our hands to you. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Love and Compassion… Forever

Reading: Jeremiah 30-33

Jeremiah 31:33b – “I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Today we read chapters 30-33, known as “The Book of Comfort.” This “scroll” offers words of hope and restoration. It opens with a declaration that the time is coming when God will bring back the captives. This section has the “what you’re about to go through will be really, really hard, but…” feel to it. There will be “screams of panic and terror… a time of unspeakable pain,” but God will deliver them; God will break the yoke on their necks. God will restore and rebuild. There will be laughter and joy. The Davidic line and the Levitical priesthood will both be reestablished. “You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

The defeat and time in exile will be part of the process. This refining and reshaping process will lead to a new covenant. God declares, “I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts.” The sin that has been deeply engraved on their hearts will be written over. God states, “They will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”

Chapter 32 shares with us a critical moment for Jeremiah, offering him some tangible proof for these promises of God. Jeremiah is in confinement for prophesying the downfall of Jerusalem… He receives word that a cousin is coming to sell him some land. It all happens as God said it would. Jeremiah buys the land. In a practical sense this makes no sense. Judah is about to be conquered. Jerusalem and its temple will be destroyed. Most will die or go into exile. But this is an act of trust and faith. Jeremiah buys the land. God then declares that houses, fields, and vineyards will one day be bought and sold again in this land. Jeremiah responds with a beautiful prayer that recounts God’s power and might, that recalls the sins of Israel and Judah, and that reviews God’s promises of restoration and covenant renewal. Yes, hard times are ahead. Really hard times. But God is faithful. God’s love and compassion endure forever. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Lord God, we are reminded once again today of our frailty and failures, set against the hope and promise of your enduring and unending love and grace. What a sharp contrast. How different we are from you in so many ways. And yet, yet you hold on, yet you love us anyway. So great is your love for us, O God. Strengthen and encourage us today to be your people. Today. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Good Plans

Reading: Jeremiah 25-29

Jeremiah 29:11 – “I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.”

We begin with a summary. For 23 years Jeremiah has spoken God’s word. The people wouldn’t listen or pay attention. God is mustering Babylon. For seventy years, Judah will serve Babylon. Jeremiah takes the cup of God’s wrath and forces many nations to drink of it. Disaster is coming to many nations.

We rewind in chapter 26. Jeremiah revisits his temple sermon of chapter 7, adding some more detail. The priests and prophets wanted to kill him because of the words he spoke. The officials and people stand up for Jeremiah, saving his life. Chapter 27 moves forward to king Zedekiah. Jeremiah makes a wooden yoke, symbolizing the new relationship that Judah will have under Nebuchadnezzar. He warns against listening to the false prophets. The remaining temple equipment will go to Babylon, until God is ready to bring it home. We get examples of these false prophets here and at the end of chapter 29. The false prophet Hananiah says the exile will only last two years. He is confronted by Jeremiah. Hananiah breaks the wooden yoke. It will become a yoke of iron, says God. Three more false prophets are dealt with in chapter 29. As always, the word of God prevails.

Chapter 29 begins with a word of great hope. In a letter to the exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah tells them to settle down, to build houses, to marry and have children, to pray for their cities of exile. As they prosper so will Judah prosper. In 70 years God will bring them home. In verse 11 we read, “I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.” What words of hope!

Prayer: Lord God, you reign over all the earth. Your word is ever true. Cut through the lies of this world, drawing us to the good plans that you have for those who love you. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Hope Even Then

Readings: Jeremiah 21-24

Jeremiah 23:3 – “I myself will gather the few remaining sheep from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back.”

Today’s words from Jeremiah and God are mostly addressed to the kings and priests – the leaders. Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to go to God on their behalf because Nebuchadnezzar is besieging the city. God’s response is that God will join in the fight against Zedekiah and Jerusalem. God will send a plague, destroying them from within the city. They are told that surrender is the only way to live. Almost all will die instead.

Jeremiah elevates the correct behavior of kings. Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the oppressed. Don’t mistreat the refugee, immigrant, orphan, or widow. Don’t spill innocent blood. Defend the rights of the poor and needy. Care well for the flock. Be fresh, good figs. Instead, the leaders chose to be evil, selfish, greedy, willful. God’s efforts will join theirs in scattering the flock.

Jeremiah also addresses the priests or “prophets.” They are telling lies and selling false security. They commit adultery with idols and teach in the name of Baal. God declares them no better than Sodom – a city completely destroyed by God because of their sin. The prophets have “destroyed the very word of God.” They too will join the kings and other leaders in exile, becoming objects of disgrace and shame.

We also find hope within these oracles and judgments. God still longs for the people to know and to love God. God’s love for them remains strong and steadfast. In 23:3 we read, “I myself will gather the few remaining sheep from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back.” Thanks be to God for unfailing mercy and unending grace.

Prayer: Lord God, I am grateful for your standards and expectations. You call us to justice and righteousness, to mercy and compassion. You call us to love all people. You ask us to be who you are. It is good. Amen.


by Leave a comment

God Will Teach Them

Reading: Jeremiah 13-16

Jeremiah 13:11 – “Just as a linen undergarment clings to the body, so I created the people of Israel and Judah to cling to me.”

Photo credit: Kenny Eliason

Our reading today begins with an illustration. Jeremiah buys, wears, and then buries an undergarment in the Euphrates River (in Babylon.) He digs it up and it is ruined, just like the people of God will be. God laments, “Just as a linen undergarment clings to the body, so I created the people of Israel and Judah to cling to me.” Because of their sin and disobedience, God will not have pity or compassion or mercy. They will be “dragged off to exile” and God will “scatter you like straw.”

Drought comes. It initially gets their attention. The people acknowledge their sin but then accuse God of being absent. God responds by telling Jeremiah not to pray for them. And God won’t accept their fast or their offerings. God will send war, famine, and disease. Brief attention is given to the false prophets. Yes, God says, they too will die – and their families. Chapter 14 closes with another attempt by the people. Yes, we’ve sinned. Yes, we’re sinning. But don’t reject us, don’t break your covenant. There is no repentance, no intent to turn from their sins.

God is so upset that God declares that even if Moses and Samuel came and interceded for the people, God still wouldn’t listen. God’s hand is set against Judah. The widows will “outnumber the sand.” In 15:10 Jeremiah laments his treatment. God asks, “Haven’t I taken care of you?” Jeremiah declares his love for God’s word. God offers to take him back – if he is faithful. God then promises to rescue and protect Jeremiah.

In chapter 16 God tells Jeremiah not to marry or to have children. That’s how bad it will be. The people are accused of being worse than their ancestors. Even so, in verses 14 and 15 we find hope. One day God will bring them home. But first they will be paid back double for their sins. God will teach them. “They will understand that I am the Lord,” declares God. Yes they will.

Prayer: Lord God, sin and disobedience break your heart. They create separation between who we are being and who we are meant to be. Teach us too, O Lord, how to walk faithfully and obediently. Guard us from sin. Plant your word in our hearts, enabling us to shine your love out into the world. Amen.