Jeremiah Buys A Field

Well, this definitely wasn’t how I thought my Bible studying would go today!  I figured I would come in here to my Pretty Purple Room, read a bit, and then write an uplifting blog about thankfulness and such since this is the month we celebrate things we are grateful for.  However…

As I continued my study of Jeremiah, the title of the chapter was “Jeremiah Buys A Field.”  He was in prison and the Lord spoke again to him, telling Jeremiah he was to purchase some land outside of Jerusalem where the soldiers were residing in as they overtook that great city.  Sounds kind of odd, huh, to buy land that used to be yours (as a citizen) and now the enemy occupied?  But our boy Jeremiah was nothing if not obedient to the commands of our Lord so he did as he was told, even though the doubts assailed him and he wondered if he was being foolish.

Do you remember yesterday how I unabashedly mentioned that sometimes it was as though the Bible was written just for me and that It spoke to me at often inopportune times (such as this one today when I thought I’d be learning more about Jesus and how to adapt my ways to His)?  Well, gulp, God did it again.  Or at least I think it was God.  Because of the pathway this scripture led me down, I am questioning whether God is involved at all.

Of course He’s involved, Stef!  Duh!  He wrote the book.  Remember?

You see, while my mind knows this, my soul was found in a sudden turmoil as I read in verses 31-32 of chapter 32 that “‘For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; so I will remove it from before My face because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.’”

Suddenly my thoughts went back to the land I was cheated out of and the hurt that it caused--and apparently is still causing--in my heart, in my life, and in what was once my family.  Like God, I was provoked to anger as I read these verses, because of the evil that overtook my siblings when my parents died.  Yes, evil is a harsh word and not one that we like to use when discussing affairs of the dead.  In this case, though, evil is what indeed permeated lives, minds, and spirits, leaving a legacy of hate, mistrust, and lies rather than one of love, hope, and a future.

As I battled this war in my heart, deciding I was not going to let my anger turn into sin, I tried to veer my thoughts into my own version of Devil’s Advocate, reasoning within myself things from the viewpoint of those who wronged me.  Again I admitted to the validity of their belief that what they did was “right.”  But just as when it all occurred until now, I guess my struggle is that I still cannot reconcile the evil with what they did to me and my sister’s kids to the people that they profess to be.  And that is just too sad to further contemplate.  Again.

So, without rehashing all of the angst and gadding about in the past, I instead am choosing to look to the future, to the promise of all wrongs being made right, and to the day when God tells Jesus it’s time for Him to go get His children.  God’s going to tell Him to bring His bride home.  Home.  To a land flowing with milk and honey and where Christ Himself is the Light.  There will be no disputes over who owns/deserves/is entitled to any of it for there we will truly be joint-heirs with Christ.  The division will be over!  The anger gone!  The lies we believed about one another will be confronted, settled, and peace will reign.  If you don’t believe me, believe then God Who said:  “‘...I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’”

I’m ready to be planted!  How ’bout you, friends?  Are you ready to put all of this fluff behind and look forward with great anticipation to our Lord’s return?  Even so, come Lord Jesus is my prayer.  Amen!