Jeremiah 31:9 – A Tender Triumph



9
They shall come with weeping,
And with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters,
In a straight way in which they shall not stumble;
For I am a Father to Israel,
And Ephraim is My firstborn. Jeremiah 31:9, New King James Version

I've been thinking of the episode from Star Trek's original run, "Who Mourns for Adonis?" In it, Apollo sheds much of the awe of deity as he deals with the Enterprise crewmembers he encounters. He says status as a god is relative, that humans worship what is more powerful and longer lasting than ourselves. He even describes the death of his fellow inhabitants of Olympus, leaving him the last of the race. Diana was first, he remembers, as she just faded away.

Apollo reveals another limitation. He has grown used to worship, and he demands it from Capt. Kirk and his friends, but he isn't much interested in THEIR needs. When Kirk reminds him, he can't really be bothered with such picayune concerns. Use your own ship, he says.

As we are jarred by this imitation of deity, the contrast with the God of the Bible is sweeping and sweet as revealed in Jeremiah 31:9. He interacts with a needy people, and He anticipates their neediness. Jesus will explicitly assure us in the New Testament that our Heavenly Father already knows the needs we pray about, but Jeremiah 31:9 extends this awareness to an emotional, existential level. God indeed, as He told Samuel, looks on the heart while humans are preoccupied with appearances.

God foretells the vulnerability of His pilgrim people, even as, returning home, they have every reason to be rejoicing, to be effusive in their thanks to Him. They will come with weeping, He knows. Interactions won't be those between a foreman and a supplier.

Scarred by traumatic relocation, this party will be emotionally complicated. Depending on the translation, the King of the universe either pleads with these high-maintenance travelers, as in the New King James Version, or the King James says the supplications are coming from the people. Either way, He is foretelling a trip that is hardly stress-free, hardly typified by the constant gratitude of a maturing people He deserves.

Disclosing Himself in advance, he is not a can't-be-bothered god. He's a Father. His character is on display in needs met, in patience demonstrated. Psalm 103:13-14 extols that God pities those to whom He grants holy fear of him like a father pities his children.

His very loftiness which we misconstrue as generating unconcern for our detailed dependence, reconstitutes Psalm 103:11-12, gives us a scale and scope for His mercy. "For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

His vastness is the ROOT SYSTEM for His concern for our details, not a measure of how far He must come down from what He deems really important in order to deal with our latest complaint. He can bear with, direct, and mature the are-we-there-yet heart. Managing the affairs of nations, He will nevertheless see to it according to the advance itinerary of Jeremiah 31:9 that His people walk by the rivers of waters, both meeting needs for constant hydration and inspiring them with scenery at once tranquil and awe-generating. Perhaps their path will remind them that they are following God Who dried up the Jordan so their forbearers could cross.

God's is the straight way home, He says, which has a sweet irony to it. The sins of His people, His constant theme to and through Jeremiah has been, had necessitated a dramatic detour, a shift of scenery, a national timeout. Yet, when He decrees by grace and mercy that these should end, that they continue to physically possess the land He gave to Abraham's descendents for a thousand generations, the path back is direct. On that path, and not just at its end, not just in an accomplished result, He will show His Fatherhood.

Do we experience needs and carry concerns to Him with that countenance in mind? Or, hardened and hurried by our human experience, do we hurry through our prayers to get to the ones we think God will deem the most important? Do we almost apologetically mention our need for daily bread, water for its view and its sustenance, and for confirmation of His straight way?

Instances of our absolute dependence, says Spurgeon, God uses as purposefully relationship building. In "A Time for Finding the Lost Sheep," he reflects on Christ's intimacy and immediacy with His Church. "He does not deal with His people only through instruments, but He Himself takes the church in His own hands. This is His own declaration, 'I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.'"

Unsure of our standing before Him as His children in whom He delights, do we carry over our harried aspect into our patience or lack of it with each other? Am I the only one who has been interrupted in contemplative, "spiritual" pursuits  by issues that seem comparatively unimportant and who has dealt with the temptation to be condescending in such a state?

Let us experience new continuity, refreshment, and renewal with Switchfoot's song "Dig New Streams." "Love let us dig new streams, where water and Word are clean." Hearing the Word for us, seeing it confirmed in God addressing our vulnerable hearts and spirits, let us overflow with living water that cleanses our relationships one to another.

The complete work of God in us, brothers and sisters, is that we would see His work in His provision AND in prayer, in the particulars of a watered way AND on the pages of His Word. The fullness of His work in us is that we would lead and influence one another as He leads and influences us, taking the genuine interest of parenting's best moments in the existing concerns of the less sophisticated

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enthusiasm, Even If We Have To Work At It

On Fixer Upper, a real estate renovation show, perpetually upbeat contractor Chip Gaines faces the usual list of hassles incumbent in his work with the reflection that his father's greatest gift to him was to show him that work could be fun. Conversely, as I asked my usual questions of a new acquaintance in Bible study about what he looks for in new hires, he shared separately that enthusiasm can't be trained. I can't, he said, teach you to have fun at your job. The two insights are not necessarily contradictory. Chip's father had a prolonged impact on his attitude toward work at a time when Chip's child heart was as flexible as the body of an infant who can peacefully fall asleep in postures an adult would find uncomfortable if not crippling. The cafeteria manager spoke to the rest of us who either were not presented with that inspirational outlook or who have been distracted from that by work's more aggravating aspects. For those of us who don't come b
Read more

A Hobby Or A Habit?

Chris is a firefighter's firefighter.  He is passionate about the equipment. He is passionate about the people he gets to help. He is passionate about the honor of a career in the fire service. He is passionate enough to attend a training to sharpen his skills on his vacation time. When a college kid at the same training referred to firefighting as a hobby, Chris was not passionate in affirming that kind of divided enthusiasm. Would he have my back, Chris questioned? Would he rescue someone on the second floor if doing so involved in some personal risk?   Chris didn't have a chance to ask these questions or confront this attitude during the brief training. Perhaps someone else in a more long-standing relationship with this kid will have the opportunity fo model professionalism and to extend it to confrontation where necessary. If not, the progression is predictable, and extends far beyond firefighting. Observing a similarly nonchalant attitude in a young pitcher, Michael Lew
Read more

While It Is Still Called Today

About a month ago, my brother was in an auto accident. When I asked about subsequent trouble with his back, he was philosophical. What happened, he said, was that my back tightened in order to protect my spinal cord. Now, anytime I'm under stress or try to lift anything, even something small, the same response kicks in. I have to retrain myself. Retrain himself he did. A lifelong independent person and freethinker who tends to shun accolades or confirmation from the crowd, on social media or otherwise, he nevertheless posted a picture on Facebook of his graduation from physical therapy. He could now return to work. Perhaps it was in the spirit of celebrating the celebratory, the completion of his first week back on the job with the shift that ended about 11, that he decided to defy middle-age and go to hear his uncle's band. When he left, it was raining heavily. The car was new to him. It collided with a concrete barrier. He totaled the car and broke a couple ribs, but human vu
Read more