“Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!
Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.”
– Psalm 74:11-12

This is the push and pull of faithful patience in the Lord. In a world in which evil, greed, cruelty, injustice, ungodliness, and oppression often seem to thrive, the children of God naturally long for the Lord to act decisively. We’re desperate to see Him act in the powerful, visible ways of old. To bring instant relief to the suffering and oppressed. To deliver swift, visible, satisfying justice to the wicked. We know that He is able and we wonder why He hasn’t yet.

We can grow frustrated at God’s “delay” in doing what we’d like to see Him do. We can begin to question or doubt Him in our minds. This is where our faith must ripen and mature into a patient faith. We must recognize, as the psalmist did, that God is eternal. Time works very differently for Him than it does for us. What seems far too long to us is but a moment to Him. He is already at work in every situation. He is working to bring salvation to those far from Him.

Salvation is the urgent work of the present day. Justice will certainly come. When it comes, it will be perfect and it will be eternal. However, it will come in God’s perfect timing rather than our flawed, impatient timing. And so, every believer, must become more like the psalmist. Not quick to deal in judgment and wrath, but trusting in both the Lord’s absolute power AND His perfect timing. #FollowJesus

“Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ‘Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.’” – Jeremiah 36:27-28

Refusing to listen to God’s word doesn’t make it less true. Hating God’s word won’t stop His promises from coming true. Trying to destroy God’s word won’t prevent Him from preserving it for all mankind. The Bible is God’s inerrant, infallible word and nothing can stop it from spreading, though people certainly have tried over the centuries. The Bible will endure every effort to silence or suppress it.

Judah’s king hated the message God gave about him through Jeremiah. Rather than repent and change his evil ways, the king simply tried to destroy the book of Jeremiah. That accomplished nothing. God’s judgment is both perfectly just and inevitable. Each person has only two options: 1) reject God’s word and experience His judgment, or 2) embrace God’s Word, repent of their sins, and call on the Lord’s mercy in the name of Jesus. The wise will do the latter. The proud will do the former.

How do you respond when God’s word points out your remaining sins and shortcomings? Is it with a tender heart of repentance? Or do you try to explain away, excuse, defend yourself, rage, or resist God’s will and word? Let God’s word probe your soul every day, like a doctor probing an infected wound. Respond with life-altering conviction and confession whenever God’s Spirit uses His word to reveal a part of your life, heart, or character that doesn’t yet look like Jesus. #FollowJesus

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

This is, of course, an extremely famous and popular verse. However, its significance runs much deeper when it’s put in its proper context. This verse is part of a letter Jeremiah wrote to Jews who’d been forcibly taken into exile far away in Babylon. Dragged off to servitude in a pagan land, their lives had been completely upended. They assumed they had no future or hope. They believed they were beyond God’s reach and forever out of His plan.

However, what Jeremiah’s prophecies repeatedly revealed was that the exiles were actually the ones with a future. The people left behind in Jerusalem had none. They were hopelessly idolatrously sinful and doomed to destruction. Jerusalem would soon be destroyed. Their lives were nearing their end. Meanwhile, the exiles, the ones certain that God was finished with them, were those He was planning to bless. They would spend 70 years in exile and God would use that time to build their faith. The synagogue system would develop there in Babylon and be carried back to Israel when the exiles returned. Rather than surrender to despair, God sought to fill them with hope. They were the future of His people.

The promise of this verse was specific to those people. We can’t just grab it for ourselves. Nonetheless, it reveals how God works all things together for good, for those who love Him (Romans 8:28). That is absolutely a promise for every believer in Jesus. God can always use what seems like an utter disaster for your good and His glory. He can always take what feels like the end and turn it into the beginning of something new and better. For those in Christ, there is always a strong and certain hope. For those in Christ, there is absolutely a glorious and eternal future on the other side of any earthly crisis or disaster. God really does know the plans He has for you and they are good. #FollowJesus

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” – Jeremiah 23:5

Just when things were getting darkest, God promised He would one day send the Light of the World! The kingdom of Judah was nearing its end. It was corrupt, idolatrous, and sinful from top to bottom. God had declared His coming judgment through warfare, conquest, fire, and exile. Jerusalem would soon be destroyed by the Babylonian Empire. Some would be forcibly taken to Babylon for 70 years of servitude. They were the ones with a future. Most others would die. Israel would soon cease to exist as a nation. And yet, God wasn’t finished with Israel!

Amidst the Lord’s declaration of a dark and painful near-term future, He promised a glorious future beyond that. Once the destruction and exile brought a small faithful remnant into deeper relationship and obedience to Him… Once He made empires rise and fall… In the fullness of time… God would send the Branch of David. His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, would step into this world, born of a virgin, descended from King David in an earthly sense, but also fully, completely, eternally God.

The true, eternal, just, righteous, merciful King of Kings and Lord of Lords would come! He would be anointed king not by a priest or military conquest but by His own blood shed on a cross for the forgiveness of sins and a glorious resurrection from the dead. Jesus is the Branch of David. Jesus is the eternal, righteous King of the Universe. The promise made in the darkest time will shine brightest forever. His Kingdom will never end. His justice and righteousness are perfect. His authority is absolute. He is the only King worthy of your undivided loyalty and submission. Praise God for the promise and the reality of Jesus! #FollowJesus

“And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.’” – Jeremiah 18:4-6

We are all like clay in the hands of God. Like a potter, He can fix our flaws, reshape us into something better, or totally rework us as our lives progress. Likewise for all the nations and powers on earth. God is perfect in His knowledge and wisdom and His power is absolute. As our Creator and the Lord of the Universe, He has total authority to do these things as He deems best. He is the master Potter. We are clay in His hands. Our nation is clay in His hands. Our world is clay in His hands.

This truth can certainly chafe against our inflated sense of independence, self-reliance, self-control, and self-determination. Too bad! Clay doesn’t really have a basis to complain against the design and work of its potter. Recognize that if God is correcting you, reshaping you, or reworking your life, He is doing it for eternal good. He is doing it for His glory. He is also doing it with greater knowledge, wisdom, and understanding than you’ll ever have.

Embrace God’s correcting and transforming work. Pray for Him to rework those parts of your life that need correction, healing, and transformation. Cooperate with His work rather than trying to stubbornly resist it. Trust the Potter! #FollowJesus