Jeremiah 31:32b – Telling of Tenderness
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand… Jeremiah 31:31-32b, New King James Version
Uncharacteristically, Will Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is working himself into a frazzle. The character is growing into young manhood and, sporadically, a sense of responsibility and opportunity. Worn down and in a fixed, he confesses to his father figure, and usual nemesis, Uncle Phil that he wanted to be a man like Phil and show that he could make it on his own.
Philip Banks is more given to sitcom putdowns than to tenderness, but he turns a different aspect toward Will – after a putdown of sorts. He corrects the record. "That's the biggest bunch of bull I've heard since I left the farm. He tells his nephew that Will's impression of Philip's rise from South Carolina poverty to eminence as a lawyer in Beverly Hills has not been solely due to his own resolve and gifts. Lots of people helped me, he recounts, as he encourages Will, despite their temperamental differences, to count on his support.
I pause, then, at the prepositional phrase we get in English which describes HOW God went about leading His people in this old way He tells them He is about to surpass. As God recalls and recounts in His perfect memory and His perfect Word, He led their fathers by the hand. Why bother with this detail? It's like going to great pains to service software that will soon be out of date, entirely outmoded by the new version?
He discloses, perhaps, because the heart of God is constant. He didn't suddenly DECIDE to send His Son to die, to be resurrected, to grant us the righteousness by which our hearts are renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This was the Trinity's mutual plan from the foundation of the world. Great as the promise, the buzz, the anticipation, at some level, we fear what's new. Thus, in Luke's Gospel, Christ compares the same gift of the Holy Spirit to a Father giving good gifts to His children.
It's that track record that allows us to trust with an open hand. Getting the story right on how God got us to this point, right down to the willing, DELIGHTED expression on His face, is crucial in determining the heart with which we will next approach Him, will next receive from Him when He says He is about to turn the page and do something different. Do we gulp with apprehension, or are we a little giddy, anticipating exactly what aspect of His goodness, His intimate knowledge of our goodness receptors, He will show?
His by-the-hand guidance, recalled rightly, involves the deft dance of a lot of human supports in and out of our lives. Recall their grace-bestowing faith, as Paul does in 2 Timothy 1 even those who taught him the Law without realizing it pointed to Christ, and our hearts are soft, spongy, and ready to receive God's next shaping and gifts. Begin to fashion and proclaim a story, though, by which we made it in spite of every influence of family and culture, within which we were ever the hero battling against all odds, and we will greet this day and its influences with a brittle hardness that must be broken if we are to grow.
Whose hand, believer, will be extended to yours with the discerning invitation to follow him or her as he or she follows Christ through similar challenges to those you face or are about to face? Beware how easy it is to keep the hand, and the heart closed because battles have sometimes been a part of our story. When a particular tussle is over and used, if we recall it correctly, to God's glory and our growth, Jars of Clay has the apt question in their song "After the Fight." "After the fight is over will I talk so tough? Will I run for cover after the gloves come off? Yeah when the black eye lingers," they anticipate, "will I stand my ground, return my fists to fingers after the final round"
We fail to default to open-handed faith, to the idea that the next relational opportunity is as likely to present an adversary as an advocate, to our peril. God's proprietary renewing power has often been evident up to now when His hand has been extended by a human willing to risk such a gesture.
Uncharacteristically, Will Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is working himself into a frazzle. The character is growing into young manhood and, sporadically, a sense of responsibility and opportunity. Worn down and in a fixed, he confesses to his father figure, and usual nemesis, Uncle Phil that he wanted to be a man like Phil and show that he could make it on his own.
Philip Banks is more given to sitcom putdowns than to tenderness, but he turns a different aspect toward Will – after a putdown of sorts. He corrects the record. "That's the biggest bunch of bull I've heard since I left the farm. He tells his nephew that Will's impression of Philip's rise from South Carolina poverty to eminence as a lawyer in Beverly Hills has not been solely due to his own resolve and gifts. Lots of people helped me, he recounts, as he encourages Will, despite their temperamental differences, to count on his support.
I pause, then, at the prepositional phrase we get in English which describes HOW God went about leading His people in this old way He tells them He is about to surpass. As God recalls and recounts in His perfect memory and His perfect Word, He led their fathers by the hand. Why bother with this detail? It's like going to great pains to service software that will soon be out of date, entirely outmoded by the new version?
He discloses, perhaps, because the heart of God is constant. He didn't suddenly DECIDE to send His Son to die, to be resurrected, to grant us the righteousness by which our hearts are renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This was the Trinity's mutual plan from the foundation of the world. Great as the promise, the buzz, the anticipation, at some level, we fear what's new. Thus, in Luke's Gospel, Christ compares the same gift of the Holy Spirit to a Father giving good gifts to His children.
It's that track record that allows us to trust with an open hand. Getting the story right on how God got us to this point, right down to the willing, DELIGHTED expression on His face, is crucial in determining the heart with which we will next approach Him, will next receive from Him when He says He is about to turn the page and do something different. Do we gulp with apprehension, or are we a little giddy, anticipating exactly what aspect of His goodness, His intimate knowledge of our goodness receptors, He will show?
His by-the-hand guidance, recalled rightly, involves the deft dance of a lot of human supports in and out of our lives. Recall their grace-bestowing faith, as Paul does in 2 Timothy 1 even those who taught him the Law without realizing it pointed to Christ, and our hearts are soft, spongy, and ready to receive God's next shaping and gifts. Begin to fashion and proclaim a story, though, by which we made it in spite of every influence of family and culture, within which we were ever the hero battling against all odds, and we will greet this day and its influences with a brittle hardness that must be broken if we are to grow.
Whose hand, believer, will be extended to yours with the discerning invitation to follow him or her as he or she follows Christ through similar challenges to those you face or are about to face? Beware how easy it is to keep the hand, and the heart closed because battles have sometimes been a part of our story. When a particular tussle is over and used, if we recall it correctly, to God's glory and our growth, Jars of Clay has the apt question in their song "After the Fight." "After the fight is over will I talk so tough? Will I run for cover after the gloves come off? Yeah when the black eye lingers," they anticipate, "will I stand my ground, return my fists to fingers after the final round"
We fail to default to open-handed faith, to the idea that the next relational opportunity is as likely to present an adversary as an advocate, to our peril. God's proprietary renewing power has often been evident up to now when His hand has been extended by a human willing to risk such a gesture.
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