Chapter 40

There are times when hope arises, even when it seems lost.

Take, for instance, chapter 40 of Jeremiah.

Perspective – all this is happening just after the walls have been broken down and the king of Judah has been dragged off to Babylon (blinded, humiliated and deprived of his sons and heirs). Surely this is a fairly bleak time in Judah’s history!

And yet the tone of this chapter is optimistic – sunny, even.

Jeremiah is released by the conquering Babylonians. The Babylonians are quite happy to use the talents of bright people (see how Daniel got on, if you’re in any doubt!), and they even invited Jeremiah to come with them. But Jeremiah saw his place as being with those not considered worth stealing, so he chose to stay with the new governor.

And suddenly everything looks good! The people begin to return, and the harvest is startingto look good. It appears that the bad times are behind the people of Israel, and that the punishments are over.

(Oh the pathos – you know the cheerful tone can’t last!)

Indeed, this chapter doesn’t end with any disaster (although you know that this is likely to come in the next chapter!).

What can we learn here?

It’s often hard to draw lessons from parts of the scriptures that are mostly narrative, and I might just be drawing a long bow here. But let’s give it a try.

Bad things happen to people. Sometimes, as in the case of Judah in this book, it’s a result of judgement; maybe it isn’t.

Either way, sooner or later you have to come to a point where you get on with life. And actually, that’s what God wants you to do!

Adam and Eve sinned, but eventually (after the fall, after they were driven from Eden), they settled down, lived their lives and had kids. They found God’s purpose for their lives.

Moses sinned (in killing the Egyptian), but eventually he lived his life, became a shepherd, got married, had a family. Then one day he saw a burning bush. He found God’s purpose for his life.

David sinned (with Bathsheba). But after the death of his son, he got back to living. He found God’s purpose for his life.

And here too – the people of Judah have been punished. But after the punishment comes the point of acceptance and moving on.

This is important because it’s the nature of Grace. If God has forgiven you by grace, you no longer have to carry the burden of that guilt. It’s time to move on past that.

This is a lesson I have to learn time and time again. There are some secrets in my past that have so embarrassed me that I can’t admit them even today to others. Oh, don’t look at me like that. Not THAT kind of secret. In fact, they are all really little things. Moments of immaturity. Incorrect words. Stupid actions. Less of them as I have gotten older, but they’re still accumulating.

God has forgiven me for them. In fact, He’s not the only one; I’d be surprised if the people involved in these situations still remember them (as I said, they’re trivial). But if God has forgiven me, why do I still hang on? I need to let them be in the past.

It’s time for me to (metaphorically) start harvesting olives and preserving Summer Fruit again.

But of course, I’m the only one who does stuff like this. Nobody else has a collection of secret sins they’ve never let God fully forgive, right?

. . . Right?