Jeremiah 31:25 – A Thoroughgoing Confession
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” Jeremiah 31:24-25, New King James Version
For one of our wedding anniversaries, my wife and I went to Mayberry. We found common consolation in the idyllic TV town, or the recreation of it in nearby Mount Airy, North Carolina. Supplementing the feel of the place was a vintage theater advertising Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic The Birds on the marquee.
Being an incurable history major, I sifted the irony. Even then, even in the civilized conformity of fedora-tipping politeness I would idealize and maybe idolize, tensions were present and unreconciled. People feared attack. People feared the familiar would suddenly become the fearsome.
The space race, that aspect of the Cold War, is mentioned even on The Andy Griffith Show. Barney's concerns that Opie might turn out to be a hoodlum if the right steps are taken at the right time is played for laughs and evidence of his overwrought nature, but, clearly, deeper anxieties are alluded to.
This is what makes God's renewal of a culture different. In His renewed Judah of Jeremiah 31, there is politeness and unity. People, from the urbanites, to the farmers, to the shepherds greet each other with reference to what the Lord has done for the whole society. But this, this is not a surface civility. For, in Jeremiah 31:25, God invites us to look beneath the social ritual. He didn't just provide a paint job, just provide a script which people could safely interchange.
God affirms the wisdom of Proverbs repeated later in Matthew that out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. These aren't polite, backward-looking exchanges to avoid jagged heart fissures within.
God's healing has been complete and intimate. The Great Physician, the Heavenly Cardiologist, the Wonderful, Counselor says He has satisfied the weary soul. Sweeping as His grace has been to bring the people back, Provident as His proclaimed presence and provision has been to advertise His ability to bring back the pregnant and the lame,
He does not use this glossy theology to sweep aside the reality of human fatigue. This is, after all, the same holy character which will be displayed as Christ, having graciously fed the people doctrinally and spiritually, is concerned that they might drop along the road as they return home.
Weariness, even among the blessed, isn't a dirty little secret. It is another aspect His tenderness brings up and addresses. He will again, reminding us lest we so learn to tolerate weariness that we make it an accompanying self-pity an idol that Christ's yoke is easy and His burden is light, that in Him we will find rest for our souls.
God also woos with His experience replenishing every sorrowful soul. His is not a religion where adherents step on our griefs and glue on a happy face, lest we seem to Him and others to be ungrateful for what He has done.
Remember, even amid it Jeremiah 31 culture awash with celebrations for His wholesale restoration, He particularly mentions the consolation in Him available to the inconsolable, those whose particular griefs trail behind the exuberance of their contemporaries. Replenishment is available in Him as we come as we are. The longer course of treatment needed for the leaden of soul is a demonstration of His steadfast mercy and encouragement, not a blot on His record He seeks to exclude from a study before publishing.
The birds, then, can be on our marquee as well without spoiling the Mayberry effect. We can be honest that each era has its fears, that God is still healing scars and pulling down remaining stronghold in the hearts of His own. Better yet, we can carry a Jeremiah 31:25 confession of what He has been faithful to do thus far, not just in the culture as a whole, not just in the habitual confessions in which we take part, but to address our particular hurts.
Our honesty, first with God, then with ourselves, then with others, can fuel courage to go beyond the cursory exchange to be used of God to heal the hurts beneath. Kirk Sams says we need it, confessing, "t takes time and effort to get close enough to individuals to help them.”
We have particular Jeremiah 31:25 experiences with Him that God might use to make us instruments of reconciliation, instances of His gentleness with us that might encourage those currently swallowed up with fatigue or sorrow. We would linger long enough for a question, then, and brave on to ask, "How are you, REALLY?"
For one of our wedding anniversaries, my wife and I went to Mayberry. We found common consolation in the idyllic TV town, or the recreation of it in nearby Mount Airy, North Carolina. Supplementing the feel of the place was a vintage theater advertising Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic The Birds on the marquee.
Being an incurable history major, I sifted the irony. Even then, even in the civilized conformity of fedora-tipping politeness I would idealize and maybe idolize, tensions were present and unreconciled. People feared attack. People feared the familiar would suddenly become the fearsome.
The space race, that aspect of the Cold War, is mentioned even on The Andy Griffith Show. Barney's concerns that Opie might turn out to be a hoodlum if the right steps are taken at the right time is played for laughs and evidence of his overwrought nature, but, clearly, deeper anxieties are alluded to.
This is what makes God's renewal of a culture different. In His renewed Judah of Jeremiah 31, there is politeness and unity. People, from the urbanites, to the farmers, to the shepherds greet each other with reference to what the Lord has done for the whole society. But this, this is not a surface civility. For, in Jeremiah 31:25, God invites us to look beneath the social ritual. He didn't just provide a paint job, just provide a script which people could safely interchange.
God affirms the wisdom of Proverbs repeated later in Matthew that out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. These aren't polite, backward-looking exchanges to avoid jagged heart fissures within.
God's healing has been complete and intimate. The Great Physician, the Heavenly Cardiologist, the Wonderful, Counselor says He has satisfied the weary soul. Sweeping as His grace has been to bring the people back, Provident as His proclaimed presence and provision has been to advertise His ability to bring back the pregnant and the lame,
He does not use this glossy theology to sweep aside the reality of human fatigue. This is, after all, the same holy character which will be displayed as Christ, having graciously fed the people doctrinally and spiritually, is concerned that they might drop along the road as they return home.
Weariness, even among the blessed, isn't a dirty little secret. It is another aspect His tenderness brings up and addresses. He will again, reminding us lest we so learn to tolerate weariness that we make it an accompanying self-pity an idol that Christ's yoke is easy and His burden is light, that in Him we will find rest for our souls.
God also woos with His experience replenishing every sorrowful soul. His is not a religion where adherents step on our griefs and glue on a happy face, lest we seem to Him and others to be ungrateful for what He has done.
Remember, even amid it Jeremiah 31 culture awash with celebrations for His wholesale restoration, He particularly mentions the consolation in Him available to the inconsolable, those whose particular griefs trail behind the exuberance of their contemporaries. Replenishment is available in Him as we come as we are. The longer course of treatment needed for the leaden of soul is a demonstration of His steadfast mercy and encouragement, not a blot on His record He seeks to exclude from a study before publishing.
The birds, then, can be on our marquee as well without spoiling the Mayberry effect. We can be honest that each era has its fears, that God is still healing scars and pulling down remaining stronghold in the hearts of His own. Better yet, we can carry a Jeremiah 31:25 confession of what He has been faithful to do thus far, not just in the culture as a whole, not just in the habitual confessions in which we take part, but to address our particular hurts.
Our honesty, first with God, then with ourselves, then with others, can fuel courage to go beyond the cursory exchange to be used of God to heal the hurts beneath. Kirk Sams says we need it, confessing, "t takes time and effort to get close enough to individuals to help them.”
We have particular Jeremiah 31:25 experiences with Him that God might use to make us instruments of reconciliation, instances of His gentleness with us that might encourage those currently swallowed up with fatigue or sorrow. We would linger long enough for a question, then, and brave on to ask, "How are you, REALLY?"
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