Day 24 - Jeremiah

I'm not particularly fond of negative nancies - no offense if you're name is Nancy.  I'm sure you're a fine person.  But you know what I mean:  negatrons.  People who always see the worst in things, who never see the positives, who think things will never get better and they'll only get worse.  Jeremiah could be a bit of a negatron.

Now, he had good reason.  Things were looking rough in Jerusalem.  People all around simply couldn't see a better day ahead for God's City and People.  This was the end.  Babylon had ransacked their homes and their tribes, and they thought they would never recover.  But God doesn't give up on His People, and God keeps his promises, and God can bring beauty out of desolation.

6 “‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. 7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. 8 I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. 9 Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’


10 “This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more 11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying,

“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty,


for the Lord is good;


his love endures forever.”


For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before, ’ says the Lord.

12 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without people or animals —in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. 13 In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.

14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

15 “‘In those days and at that time


I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;


he will do what is just and right in the land.


16 In those days Judah will be saved


and Jerusalem will live in safety.


This is the name by which it will be called:


The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’ (Jeremiah 33:6-16)

There is no such thing as a barren wasteland in your life.  God can and is prone to move in the midst of great desolation.  The thing I love about this passage is when God says, "You say about this place that it is a desolate waste, things will never grow here again, people will never be happy again," but I'll show you.

You may have areas in your life that seem desolate, perhaps a relationship, a career, maybe even your faith.  You may even have people spewing negative energy into your life, telling you that you'll never see fruit there again.  You don't have to believe that.  We serve a God that heals what is sick and makes whole what is broken.  We serve a God who returns laughter to streets that have been filled with mourning.  Of course, the story for Israel is that the ultimate victory over this desolation would be the fulfillment of God's promise of a Savior, Jesus.  The same is true for us.  We don't have a promise that everything will always work out the way we want, but we do have a promise that if we want Jesus to a part of a situation that is desolate and empty, that He will step right in there with us.  And sooner or later, we'll see better days one way or another.  Believe in a better day.