Off to a Rough Start

Have you ever had to guess a book by its first line (or vice versa)?  Maybe someone was asking you to try and remember a movie from it’s opening scene.  I think of the opening lines of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,…”(https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/341391-it-was-the-best-of-times-it-was-the-worst), as a classic example.

I’m no Charles Dickens, of course (I’m not even English, for that matter), but here’s the opening to this next article series from Jeremiah 33:   Jeremiah is in lockup.

We can read more about this in the previous chapter (Jeremiah 32:1-5).  I’m not sure if Jeremiah is formally in a prison, but it sounds like he can’t leave this specific “courtyard of the guard”.  I could speculate that this courtyard is near the palace (where the guards can protect the king, and the king can keep an eye on Jeremiah), but that’s just a guess.

Jeremiah said some things that the king didn’t like, so the king took away his freedom.  I’m not sure if this was meant to be punishment (some kind of revenge from a bitter king who didn’t like to hear bad news) or censorship (keeping Jeremiah from telling this news to others), or maybe it was both!

In that context, though, let’s see how chapter 33 starts:

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name:

Jeremiah 33:1‭-‬2 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jer.33.1-2.NIV

No matter how dire, Jeremiah’s situation doesn’t stop God from sending messages to him.  No door, no cell block, and no internet filters can keep God from speaking to His people.  (Remember that fact when you fear that others are trying to suppress the good news about Jesus Christ.)  The Lookout says “Although he lost his freedom, he didn’t lose access to his faithful heavenly Father.”

I’m not sure if Jeremiah was expecting a message from God while in his current confinement, but both he and we need to be on the lookout for God’s messages to us.  Being under arrest didn’t stop God from getting His message to Jeremiah and nobody can block God’s message from getting to you, so be ready to receive it.

As God continues speaking to Jeremiah, He makes a grand offer (or perhaps more of an instruction):

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

Jeremiah 33:3 NIV
https://jeremiah.bible/jeremiah-33-3

Would you like to have all of the answers?  I don’t mean stealing a copy of the answer key to a test in school, but do you want to understand the really difficult questions in life?  For instance, “Why did this terrible thing happen to a friend or family member?”, “Why does God wait for Jesus to return?”,  “Why do I keep stumbling over the same sin?”,  or “Why are some people so consumed with practicing evil?”

I think that there is a lot that we would like to know.  Even when we say something like, “God must be working towards a greater plan” (which I believe is true), isn’t there a part of us that still wonders what that plan could possibly be, if it includes such pain?

Now, this verse doesn’t say that God will answer everything that we want to know (although it’s probably OK to ask, if our heart is right with Him first).  However, for those who call out to God, He is more than capable to tell us things that no human philosopher, scientist, or pundit will ever figure out.

I’m also not saying that this verse is necessarily an instruction to all of us (since it might be meant just for Jeremiah or the people of Jerusalem), but it does give us some idea about the amazing knowledge and wisdom that Jeremiah’s God (the same God who offers salvation to each of us through Jesus Christ) has at His disposal, and can share with us at the right time.

Rather than expecting God to tell us things that we’re not yet ready for, though, I’d like to focus on the amazing nature of God: Here, He has the ability to describe great things – things that are “unsearchable” (per the NIV).  I think of this as, “answers that you can’t find on Google”.  The NASB uses the word “mighty” or “incomprehensible”, and I think that’s what the people of Jerusalem in the day of this prophecy would have thought:

• Those that thought that they would prevail against Nebuchadnezzar’s forces didn’t understand that they would lose.
• Those that were resigned to being overtaken by Babylon almost certainly didn’t expect that God would later restore them after the inevitable invasion (actually, two invasions, since Nebuchadnezzar’s forces returned a second time after initially invading Jerusalem).

If God’s understanding is so far beyond what others in Jeremiah’s day expected, and ran contrary to conventional wisdom, let us also remember who God is, and how much greater He is than we are.  I’m confident that He can expand our knowledge and surprise us with wisdom beyond what we could ever find on our own.  So, are you ready to hear His message, no matter how bad things seem for you?

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From Sunday School lesson prepared for July 30, 2023

References:

• The Lookout, July 30, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
• Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
• The College Press NIV Commentary – Jeremiah-Lamentations, by Timothy M. Willis.  © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.