The Days Are Surely Coming - Jeremiah 31:31-37

The Days Are Surely Coming

Jeremiah 31:31-37

Lesson Setting

Jeremiah writes the second chapter of his “Book of Consolation,” (Jeremiah chapters 30, 31 and 32) to Israel during a period of exile and extreme bewilderment.  Israel and Judah live in captivity at the behest of foreign rulers who previously decimated their way of life.  Following the Babylonian sacking of Jerusalem and desolation of the Temple in 587 BCE, the people were scattered to unknown lands to serve their oppressors.  Feeling abandoned by God who made an everlasting covenant with their forebears, Israel and Judah struggles for meaning in their daily existence.  At the height of their dehumanizing and demeaning situation, Jeremiah announces “the days are surely coming” when they will return to their homeland and rebuild their lives.

Lesson Outline

I.                 Jeremiah 31:1-6 – Envision a New Future

II.            Jeremiah 31:7-14 – Sing Songs of Joy and Praise

III.        Jeremiah 31:15-20 – Heartfelt Grief

IV.         Jeremiah 31:21-30 – Dreams of a New Day

V.              Jeremiah 31:31-40 – A New Covenant

Unifying Principle

Sometimes agreements and relationships must be revised and renewed. How can the faithful make sure all aspects of their lives encourage wholeness and spiritual growth in present circumstances?  Jeremiah assures the people that God will make a new covenant with God’s people that will nurture and equip them for the present and the future.

Introduction

Imagine you are unyielding Southerner from “the Deep South” whose formative and childhood years taught you “the Southern way of life” to which you mostly subscribe.  Your worldview, values, social mores and daily routines center upon this intractable social, political, economic and religious code.  As life’s mystery unfolds, you move to New York City or some other Northeastern and Mid-Western urban center.  Quite possibly, you will experience severe cultural shock as you realize your fellow citizens in your new place of abode do not share any of your values.  Chances are they are ignorant or indifferent to customs, traditions and beliefs which you hold sacred.  On a Sunday morning, the sound of a lawn mower, chain saw, or some other type of industrial equipment awakens you.  People would never work on the Sabbath back home.  As you travel to church, you observe countless businesses opening for a full day of commerce.  The public laundry mats are full of people.  When you arrive at church, you notice many people in casual clothing.  In fact, there is someone in blue jeans, a button down shirt without a tie, a leather jacket and boots!  After service, you wonder where you will eat as you would like a good old fashioned Southern “Sunday dinner replete with regional staples such as rice, collard greens, fried chicken, yams, macaroni and cheese, corn bread, sweet ice tea and pecan pie with cool whip.  Actually, you have been unable to find a real Soul food restaurant.  The grocery stores do not sell any Southern delicacies but are full of strange kinds of food from elsewhere in the world.  As you listen to the local news, the willingness to local citizens to permit and tolerate actions that Southern would deem as vulgar, indecent, criminal and untoward repulses you.  No one seems to care that an ideology, “Live and Let Live,” contributes to moral decay though people characterize it as libertarianism.  Summarily, you may conclude you are living in exile as your religion, history, culture and literature have been taken away from you.

Historically, African Americans who migrated to the Northeast and Mid-West in the post World War II era faced the foregoing feelings and challenges.  Northern liberalism confronted their theology and principles cultivated within a Southern setting.  Interestingly, it did not eradicate the racism they experienced albeit its Northeastern iteration was not as virulent as the rabid segregation and prejudice of the American South.  As African Americans strove for better economic conditions and higher standards of living, they equally yearned for the comforts and feelings of “home.”  Where could they find Southern comfort food and other delicacies?  Are there any churches that resemble their houses of faith back home as it relates to architecture and style of worship?  Are there any communities that share their ideological, political and religious beliefs?  As regards recreation, where could they sing, dance, drink and make merry?  As physically returning “home” was not an option, then African Americans had to create “home” where they were.  Relying upon God’s unquestionable faithfulness as they had been taught in Sunday School, they adhered to their core principles and heartfelt customs in a strange land.  They answered the challenge of finding meaning, joy, purpose and wholeness though they lived in unfamiliar surroundings.  Essentially, they defined and cultivated a “Native New Yorker” existence grounded in African American Christian principles and practices.

This week, we delve more deeply in Israel’s and Judah’s historical ordeal of overcoming depression and destitution in captivity.  As God’s chosen people and inheritors of His covenant with their forbears, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they struggle to understand their identity as God’s favored children in the midst of their exilic existence.  Israel and Judah live with two fundamental questions.  First, “Where is God in midst of this pervasive evil?  How can He allow such tragedy?”  As they ask this age-old question about the problem of evil and God’s apparent powerless to combat it, they must also question the worth of His covenant with them.  If He cannot prevent evil, then He cannot adhere to His covenant.  Should they feel obligated any longer to respect Him or the covenant?  Second, they have the test of defining what it means to be an Israelite in a foreign land.  This question necessitates their experience of the range of emotions that usually accompany bereavement. 

Theologians characterize the enduring philosophical problem of God’s inability or unwillingness to prevent or annihilate evil as theodicy.  The four absolute attributes of God are omniscience (all knowing), omnipresent (all-present), omnipotent (all-powerful) and omni-benevolent (all-kind).  Evil in the world threatens one or more of these divine characteristics.  If God is all-knowing and ever-present, assuredly He can prevent evil before it happens.  If He is all-powerful, then He can eradicate evil from human existence.  If He is all-kind inherently, then He would not allow evil realizing the pain it causes undeserving people.  Israel and Judah ask this question from an experiential standpoint as they observe the wholesale desolation of their way of life.  They lose in totality their religion, history and literature.  Adding insult to injury, their way of life was bequeathed to them by foreparents on the basis of promises that God made.  Did God sadistically manipulate them into serving Him when He knew He had no intentions of adhering to His oath?  Have they been wasting their time in adoration, worship and devotion to a God who lacks the power to adhere to His promises?  As He permits them to be drawn into captivity by foreigners, can He reasonably expect them to remain loyal to the covenant?  Practically speaking, do they honor their word to a Liar?

Beyond their theoretical dilemma, Israel and Judah has a daily existential quandary.  What is their identity in Babylon?  How do they maintain their religious rites and adhere to the Law when they do not have the Temple and formal priesthood?  How do they comply with dietary restrictions about unclean food in a land without kosher butchers and shops?  How will they observe the Passover and other mandated feasts?  How will they save their civilization as they inherited and developed it?  Facile answers should not come easily in response to difficult questions.  The comprehensive loss of Israel’s and Judah’s way of life parallels death of a loved one.  The nation experiences the stages of grief and bewilderment.  They begin with a fierce anger towards Almighty God.  Again, how could He allow such an ordeal?  Then, they deny the depth of their loss and its paralytic depression.  In fact, following the Assyrian sacking of the nation, some of the Jews intermarried with their foreign captors thereby creating the Samaritan people.  Israel responds to the Babylonian captivity which occurs approximately one hundred and thirty-five years afterwards with a more intense commitment to preserve their heritage and people.  Yet, they wonder whether they should make future plans and have children.  What would be the point if they will remain in a foreign land?     For some of them, their cynicism leads to widespread moral abnegation as it pertains to the Law and respecting God’s holy character.  “Eat, drink and be merry; for tomorrow we die” surprisingly in a strange and unfamiliar land.  Bargaining follows denial as some of them to make the most of a very bad situation.  They attempt to redefine the attributes of God and reform the terms of His covenant to suit their personal preferences.  They cease genuine reliance upon Almighty God and become more self-reliant.  When bargaining fails, they become utterly depressed; thereby lapsing into apostasy, falling away from the faith and Law.  The final stage of grief is acceptance which emerges after four previous emotions dissipate and yield to practical and daily reality.  At that emotional and existential juncture, Jeremiah announces words of comfort and consolation to the exiles by reassuring them that the darkness of their circumstances ideally reveals God’s true character.

Jeremiah chapter 31 is written during the Babylonian exile.  One response of Israel and Judah to their captivity and potential loss of their history, religion, literature and way of life is to write it down.  They preserve the covenant and their past with scrolls.  Future generations will always have a record of their way of life centering upon God’s faithful promises to them.  Moreover, the prophet records God’s unimaginable promise to return them to the Promised Land and restore their lives to a previously inconceivable level of prosperity and peace.  Jeremiah proclaims these divine assurances despite standing in the midst of people who have been immeasurably demoralized and dehumanized by the exile.  He pledges the Lord’s faithfulness as holy, just, loyal and unfailingly loving.  He will adhere meticulously to the covenant in their adverse conditions.  His faithfulness in hard times proves His love and loyalty to them.  His love is redemptive and powerful thereby empowering them during days of exile and encouraging them to persevere until their return to the Promised Land.  Unquestionably, “the days are surely coming when the Lord will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah.”

Exposition

Point I – Jeremiah 31:1-6 – Envision a New Future

Jeremiah commences this announcement with a word of renewal and recommitment from God to Israel and Judah.  The Lord’s relationship with them will not stem from the covenant He made with their forbears.  He will renew it with them directly.  Their relationship to Him will be intensely personal rather than historical and traditional.

In the second verse, the Lord promises them a meaningful and fruitful existence in exile.  Those persons who survive war and physical fight of exile will find divine favor in the wilderness.  Practically, they will not live in want nor will their lives unfold aimlessly and ineffectively.  On the contrary, the wilderness experience will be a time of preparation as they wait for return to the land previously sworn to their forbears.  God uses hard experiences to burn the dross of our character.  Experiences such as significant losses and tragedy coerce us to rely genuinely upon God for provision and protection.  As we more rightly relate to Him, we assume His character and resolve the defects within our personalities.  Times in the wilderness require hard work physically and spiritually.  When we are exhausted, God grants rest to us.  After Israel and Judah depleted their resources, they were poised to receive God’s guidance and comfort.  He promises a Sabbath to them even in the wilderness of unfamiliar and foreign surroundings.

In the third verse, the Lord reminds Israel and Judah that His love for them is an unfailing love.  Human circumstances and challenges cannot cancel God’s eternal love.  It remains loyal, comforting and redemptive regardless of human choices and consequences.  His enduring lovingkindness is His appeal to this generation in Israel and Judah.  His suffices to seek their best life even though their ignorance and rebellion creates the conditions that lead to the exile.  As He justly allows them to suffer the consequences of their choices, He unfailingly loves them with the objective of return and renewal.

In the next few verses, the Lord invites the exiles to envision a bright and prosperous future.  Although they cannot believe it presently, He reassures them they will once again sing, dance and rejoice in familiar places.  They will sing new songs.  They will play old instruments.  They will drink new wine from new vineyards.  They will feast and make merry back at the homestead.  The day will dawn when the watchman on the fortified walls of the city will cry aloud and encourage the people to travel to Zion on pilgrimage to commune with their God.  In the first through the sixth verses of this chapter, Jeremiah addresses the mental concerns and angst of the exiles.

Point II – Jeremiah 31:7-14 – Sing Songs of Joy and Praise

In these few verses, Jeremiah proclaims the Lord’s determination to adhere to the covenant with Israel regardless of their disobedience and indifference.  It as if the Lord reminds Himself of the pledge He makes to Abraham in Genesis.  The Lord swore an oath on the basis of His Name to the patriarchs and their descendants.  God obligates Himself to faithfully execute the terms of the covenant even if Israel fails to occupy.  His character compels His faithfulness and fulfillment of the pledge He makes.  Contemporarily, we draft and sign contracts containing thousands of words and millions of characters.  We insert hundreds of clauses to ensure all parties comply with the conditions and terms of the transaction.  These stipulations attempt to prevent injury to any adherents particularly persons who uphold their part of the agreement.  However, a signature on a contract is utterly meaningless if the person signing does not possess a moral and ethical character that compels him to comply.  Such a person usually looks for an escape clause absolving him of responsibility and enabling him to evade accountability.  Israel’s pervasive and perpetual rebellion, limitless disobedience and proclivity to serve other gods combine to offer Almighty God exemption from the covenant He makes with them.  In great contrast to this perfectly permissible legalistic release, Almighty God more stringently and faithfully adheres to the covenant.  As “the One and only true God,” He keeps His word to enable other nations to observe His holy, trustworthy and honest character.  Otherwise, they could discard Him as a god who fails to keep His promises.  Interestingly, the covenant between God and Israel is not written down.  Abraham lives four hundred and fifty years before the Law is written!  God gives His Word and fulfills it because of His faithful and loving character.

In response to the Lord’s faithfulness, Jeremiah exhorts his fellow exiles to rejoice in the Lord and His unfailing adherence to His promises.  To rejoice means practically to spin and dance in jubilation despite adverse circumstances.  Recalling the Lord’s enduring promises motivates Jeremiah to sing and praise the Lord.  He forthrightly tells the exiles to transcend their bleak mental outlook and depressing emotions by delighting in their forthcoming return, restoration and renewal.  Sing with joy and shout praises with ecstasy in anticipation of what the future holds.  Their jubilant songs will confuse their captors and enemies as they cannot understand how an oppressed and subjugated people can praise their God who allows their captivity.  As they reflect upon the covenant, Israel undoubtedly admits her failure to obey God and thereby accept her due punishment.  Yet, Jacob’s recollections do not stop there.  Jacob further ponders the character of the God who makes the covenant.  His anger only lasts a moment but His favor endures for a lifetime and His truth extends to all generations.  Accordingly, they can open their mouths and offer enthusiastic praise as they recall God will keep His promises as He always has.  They know that He will not leave them in captivity forever.  As He delivered them from Egyptian slavery, He will liberate them from Babylon and return them to the land He swore to their forbears on an oath of His Name.  Quite possibly, an entire repertoire of songs, poetry and dances emerge from the exilic period.

The Lord intends to fulfill His promise to the least persons in Israel as a measure of His faithfulness to the covenant.  He will gather the scattered tribes from the ends of the earth as far as the north is from the south and the east from the west.  None of the inheritors of Israel will be left out.  Restoration and renewal will not be a privilege for any persons of distinction and social or economic status.  The lame, blind, expectant mothers and even women in labor will all return weeping as they cross the borders into their land.  There, they will find streams of water and level land where they may live and prosper.  A plentiful supply of and direct access to water in a desert environment in which people depended heavily upon the land and livestock for subsistence is an amazing promise and blessing.  You may recall the severity of famines in biblical times.  Simply pondering such a future life swells the heart and causes spontaneous songs of praise to Almighty God for His future deliverance.

The Lord then addresses the surrounding nations.  He defends His character as the one and only trustworthy deity.  Polytheism, serving many gods who meet multiple needs, was widespread in the Ancient Near East.  Forsaking monotheism which they inherited from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Israel lapses in polytheism and syncretism, mixing beliefs in multiple gods and creeds, when they lived in Egypt and traveled through the wilderness.  Were God to forsake and punish them, they would feel justified in their unreasonable mixture of beliefs and practices.  Moreover, other nations would refuse to believe in Yahweh as they conclude He is a God who is powerless essentially to keep His pledges.  As a consequence, the Lord wants these nations to know His love and protection for Israel equates with a shepherd’s devotion to a flock.  He will rescue Israel and redeem her from the hands of those nations who oppress her.  Redemption always involves a payment.  The Lord’s mercy satisfies His anger and righteous judgment which rightfully demanded retribution for the totality of Israel’s offenses against God’s holiness.  In addition to the payment of a ransom, redemption entails recreation.  Before the use of the word, recycle, became widespread in public discourse, people took plastics, aluminum cans, card boards and other items to redemption centers.  There, citizens were compensated with market driven prices for these used items which were then reformatted into some other material and purpose.  As the Lord retakes Israel from her captors, He will renew her purpose in the world.

Jeremiah tells Israel to rejoice well in advance.  Upon their return, they will sing loudly and delightfully on the heights of mount Zion.  Not only will they praise God for their return, they will rejoice over His bounty and prosperity in their new life.  They will drink new wine.  Grain and olive oil will be plentiful.  They will eat fresh beef daily and livestock will be young and tender.  The prophet uses the image of a well-watered and flourishing garden to depict the future riches they will enjoy.  Beyond the material, physical and financial blessings, they will experience the peace of the Lord.  He will turn their mourning into gladness and permanently take away their sorrow.  These promises when turned into lyrics of songs of praise and thanksgiving will transform any emotionally despondent person.

Point III – Jeremiah 31:15-20 – Heartfelt Grief

Despite the joy which Jeremiah details in the preceding verses, Israel’s heart is very heavy with anguish, loss and bewilderment.  Try as hard as they may, they cannot look forward.  Their hearts are heavy as they consider the incalculable figure of everything they lost in the captivity.  Never again would they worship in the glorious Temple that Solomon built.  “The old neighborhood” has been decimated.  Whatever lingering memories of “the good ole days” cannot retrieve the joy and bounty they experienced in the old homestead.  Even the divine promises of a new life which will yield undoubtedly “a new normal” cannot replace the life they lost in the captivity.  Accordingly, Jeremiah discovers Rachel weeping and she absolutely refuses to be comforted.  What can anyone say to her?  What words could possibly relieve the pain embedded deeply within her heart?  Are verbal promises of return and restoration sufficient to heal her angst?  Moreover, like a mother who loses a child to stillbirth, Rachel wails because she will never enjoy the sound of this child’s giggling and laughter.  She will not watch his first steps.  She will not see that look of unconditional love as this baby looks into her face knowing he is dependent totally upon her and loving her because he realizes that she is caring for him.  Rachel will not nurture this child into to adulthood.  She will not travel with him in life passing the complex, familiar and joyous milestones of graduations, marriage, purchasing a home, settling upon a career and even having children of his own.  Rachel weeps for the future children of Israel who collectively will be deprived of such joys in captivity.  Her posterity will grow up in a strange and foreign land far distant from the culture, religion, literature and livelihood of everything it means to be an Israelite.  The sheer thought of a future wrought with such destitution and deprivation for her children causes Rachel to weep uncontrollably.  Notwithstanding Jeremiah’s assurances to the contrary, Rachel will not entertain any semblance of consolation.

Nonetheless, the Lord rhetorically embraces Rachel and reassures her that her children will not be orphans in a foreign land.  He grabs her as she shakes in despair and encourages her to cease weeping and wailing as she dries her teary eyes.  Rachel’s children will return to their land and will prosper there.  The Lord offers a message of enduing hope to this grief-stricken mother.  Hope is the surest antidote for a hurting heart.  The idea that life can be different and perhaps better prevents emotional and existential paralysis which people who are despondent experience.  If you lack a purpose in your daily living and you are unsure of your identity, then what motivates to attempt anything? However, if you persevere with a realistic expectation that a new day will dawn offering a new life, then you embrace each obstacle as an opportunity.  For Rachel, she ends her period of mourning and prepares for renewal and return.  The Lord pledges to give a future to her children who will return to the land that He promised to their forbears.

Interestingly, as Rachel weeps inconsolably, Ephraim acknowledges the justness of the captivity.  He characterizes his behavior as that of an unruly calf that deserves discipline for straying away from the shepherd’s protection and provision.  Further, he admits his humiliation before the Lord and surrounding nations.  In difficult times, after understandable emotions dissipate, it is important to embrace hard facts and truths.  Spiritual disciplines necessitate examining your role in any challenge or adversity.  What did you contribute?  Could you have avoided this situation?  What can you learn from it?  Practicing self-reflection, Ephraim appreciates his rebelliousness and disregard for the Lord factored significantly in the confluence of circumstances that led to the Babylonian captivity.

With the heart of a most dedicated Father, the Lord responds to Ephraim’s repentance with the compassion and care of His unfailing love.  He describes Ephraim as a child in whom He exults.  He rejoices in the relationship He enjoys with His beloved son though He must chastise Ephraim periodically.  Disciplining a child does not equate with a cessation of love.  Actually, discipline is an act of love.  Thus, the Lord’s heart yearns to re-establish a right relationship with Ephraim.  These words reveal God’s pure heart toward Israel.  The Lord desires restoration of relationship with Israel more than they do.  His yearns to demonstrate His lovingkindness to His people with whom He made an everlasting covenant.

Point IV – Jeremiah 31:21-30 – Dreams of a New Day

Sometimes dreams offer comfort during difficult times.  If we are unable to consider consciously a better life because the competing demands of daily survival will not allow luxuries of meditating upon a brighter day, we can do so during sleep.  In the deep recesses of our minds and hearts, we long for the best life of which we are capable.  In those sacred places, we nurture and develop pure dreams and hopes.  Our silent prayers are appeals to Almighty God to consecrate and bless these visions for a joyous and prosperous future.  Inconceivably, as they dwell in exile, Israel continues to dream.  In fact, Jeremiah encourages them to offer their dreams to God as prayers for their return and renewal.

In a very pleasant and empowering dream, Jeremiah sees the road leading back to Israel’s homeland.  The word of the Lord instructs him to set up road signs and milestones to lead the people of Israel back to their land of inheritance.  The Lord will show them the route to take.  In a very loving gesture, the Lord refers to Israel as His “Virgin Daughter,” symbolizing His willingness to forget her past sins of infidelity in serving other gods.  Upon her return, she will be new and completely cleansed of her former way of life.  Israel will turn her heart back to Yahweh; she will no longer adulterate herself in polytheism and syncretism.  She will wander no longer in the wilderness of self-righteousness and rebellion.  Israel will love the Lord through her obedience and faithfulness.  She will find love, peace and security under the canopy of the Lord’s provision and protection.  Hence, she will not wander aimlessly looking for love.  Unimaginable blessings, prosperity and joy await her.  The towns of Judah and will receive verbal and material blessing in their work, livelihood and families.  Jeremiah awakes to the realization that the Lord used his dream to communicate a vision of the future.  He shares his dream with his countrymen to encourage them that “the days are coming: when the Lord reverses the curse of the captivity with restoration.  He reciprocates their trouble by blessing them to the same measure that He permits their devastation.  “In that day,” they will build and plant rather than recover from destruction and uprooting.  They will no longer remember the agonizing and lingering taste of sour grapes in captivity.  Instead, new and sweet wine will flood their palates. 

Point V – Jeremiah 31:31-40 – A New Covenant

This second chapter of the “Book of Consolation” culminates in the promise of a new covenant.  A new relationship between God and Israel is the essence of restoration.  What difference will their physical return to the Promised Land make if they remain the same internally?  Hence, the Lord promises a new covenant to Israel and Judah.  It will not be like the old covenant that He made with their forbears.  In the thirty-second verse, Jeremiah intimates the generation that lived in Egypt only adhered mentally to the covenant.  They desired its rewards without heeding its requirements.  They sought ways to evade its stipulations.  Essentially, they never internalized the covenant.  It was a written code to which they periodically paid homage similar to the ways contemporary Christians believe in the Ten Commandments as they simultaneously break them each day.  Many bibles in disciples’ households gather dust as they lay on the living room tables.  Christians insist that the Holy Bible is the Word of God but they do not know it well enough to live in accordance with its principles.  Ignorance of the principles of the Law inevitably led to Israel’s and Judah’s failure to practice it.  To avoid a repeat of this past mistake, upon their return to the Promised Land, the Law will be written in their minds and upon their hearts instead of stone tablets.  The Law had become a grave marker as Israel and Judah lived in a spiritual graveyard.  In the new day, the Law will become a way of life.  It will be the foundation of Israel and Judah’s culture not a museum relic.  Moreover, the Lord will renew His covenant with the present generation lest they fallaciously determine the Law as obsolete and applicable only to their ancestors.  Jeremiah’s words depict a couple renewing their wedding vows.  God will remarry Israel and they will live harmoniously as God and people without divided hearts and allegiances.

“Locks only keep out honest people.”  This enduring Jewish proverb hints at a self-evident and commonsensical truth.  Honest people do not steal; thus there is no need to lock them out of anything.  Their characters compel them to respect other people’s property.  Similarly, laws restrict criminal behavior not that of honest people.  For someone whose character tolerates stealing, cheating, lying and other sins and crimes, a million laws will prove ineffective to eliminate this behavior.  However, should such a person experience a transformation of character by internalizing moral and ethical principles as a method of living instead  mere mental beliefs, then a million  temptations will prove worthless to coerce sinful and criminal behavior.  Eliminating rebellion and infidelity in Israel and Judah begins with a change of heart and character as opposed to writing laws ad infinitum.  The presence of countless speed limit signs on the highways does not deter drivers who resolve those laws and signs do not apply to them.  Even multiple tickets and fines are limited in their ability to reduce this potentially dangerous activity which undoubtedly takes countless lives each year.  But, when a driver resolves within his mind and heart to abide by the speed limit, then he no longer needs the threat of fines, loss of license or imprisonment to compel his adherence to the law.  Likewise, if Israel and Judah determine in their minds and hearts to be faithful to the Lord, then fear of His wrath and judgment would not be necessary to stave off their rebellion and disobedience.  In fact, love would compel their loyalty and submission to His will.  Love compels adherence to marriage vows rather than contractual law and possible divorce proceedings. 

The prophet completes this chapter with two amazing promises.  First, he says it will no longer be necessary of for neighbors to teach each other the ways of the Lord as His Law will be upon their hearts and minds.  Their characters will compel them to live in right relationship with Almighty God and thus with each other.  A law library full of annotated codes will not be necessary to ensure prosperity and peace in the forthcoming era of restoration and renewal.  Second, “the city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”  New life will replace the dastardly depiction of death and decay in the final verses.  A flourishing and vibrant city will be built upon this cemetery.  As a consequence, its inhabitants will live without fear of reprisal and attack as the Lord’s covenantal promise of provision and protection will be their surest defense.

The Lesson Applied

Let’s Talk About It

1.     Have you ever moved to an unfamiliar place and felt like an exile?  Briefly share your story.

2.   Do you daydream about a brighter future?  Do you visualize your triumph over your daily challenges?

3.   Have you ever experienced inconsolable grief?  What helped you to overcome it?

4.   Do you believe that God speaks to you through your dreams?  If yes, give an example.

5.    Have you ever made a covenant with someone?  What motivates you to keep your word?

The Days Are Surely Coming - Jeremiah 30:1-3 & 8-22

The Days Are Surely Coming

Jeremiah 30:1-3 & 8-22

Lesson Setting:

Bible scholars debate the exact date for the book of Jeremiah.  Dr. Thomas L. Constable, a member of the Dallas Theological Seminary faculty, posits a date of 520 BCE for the book of Jeremiah in its present canonical form.  That date allows for Jeremiah’s knowledge of the desolation of Israel and Judah by the Assyrians in 722 BCE and later by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.  Also, the book addresses events in Israel and Judah spanning the reigns of King Josiah (640 BCE) to Cyrus (538 BCE), the Persian ruler who oversaw part of the Babylonian captivity.  As it relates to Jeremiah 30 which we study today, its approximate date and historical is the reign of Jehoiakim in the early 600s BCE during a period or monarchical arrogance and national rebellion against Yahweh.

Lesson Outline:

I.                 Jeremiah 30:1-6 A Written Promise of Consolation

II.            Jeremiah 30:7-12         Assurance of Delivery and Return

III.        Jeremiah 30:13-18       Chastisement with Consolation

IV.         Jeremiah 30:19-24       The Purposes of God’s Heart

Unifying Principle:

People often find themselves in situations when they feel lost and alone.  How do they regain a sense of belonging?  Jeremiah tells of God’s promise to restore fortunes of the people, Israel and Judah, and to re-establish the covenant with them.

Introduction

In this week’s passage, Jeremiah faces a very difficult challenge as he answers his commission by Almighty God to offer comfort to Israel and Judah. Yahweh promises to renewal to His desolate people. They have learned experientially what “irreversible” means.  The indiscriminate ruin of their culture, religion, history and landmarks by the Assyrians could never be forgotten even tem generations later.  No one will wake them up from the worst imaginable nightmare any individual or group of people could have.  Totally defeated and subjugated, what reason do they have to live?  Practically speaking, for what purpose will they arise from bed each dawn?  Yet, they serve the one and true God, the “Maker of all that is seen and unseen,” who made an everlasting covenant with them.  His promises do not bend to plots twists and shifting circumstances of humankind.  Considering the hard fact that He allowed their utter decimation, is there anything meaningful He could possibly say to His people on the day after such a colossal disaster?  Within this crisis of faith, emotional paralysis and disillusionment, Jeremiah reminds Israel and Judah of God’s enduring promise of restoration of their lives and land.  The prophet encourages the people to imagine a bright, safe and rewarding future as they stand in the midst of personal ruin and practical rubble.  Jeremiah reassures his brothers and sisters of the Lord’s covenantal commitment to them.  “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people.”

Centuries later, the prophet’s words of divine comfort and wisdom to Israel and Judah equally encourage and empower us as we face similar personal and collective disasters.  Severe health challenges financially ruin a lot of people each year.  Depression and attention deficit disorders afflict hundreds of thousands of American citizens.  Many businesses and people are still recovering from the banking and housing crisis during the second term of President George W. Bush.  The domino effect of countless home foreclosures led to the loss of many jobs throughout the American economy.  As citizens depleted their savings accounts as they faced entrenched and rising unemployment, they had to rebuild their lives by developing new approaches to spending, budgeting and working.  Each season, many people live under the pervasive threat of a natural disaster striking their region of the country.  Interestingly, the combination of technology, science, psychiatry, psychology and pharmaceuticals are powerless to prevent or protect us from experiencing these types of health, emotional, economic, relational and natural catastrophes.  Still, the eternal wisdom of Jeremiah’s words offer hope and encouragement.

Exposition

Point I – Jeremiah 30:1-6 – A Written Promise of Consolation

The Lord instructs Jeremiah to write His promise in a book.  He records the Lord’s faithfulness to the covenant He made with Israel and Judah.  In the future when they receive deliverance from their anguish and oppression, the Lord wants them to recall His gracious, merciful and faithful role in liberating them.  He wants them to remember His promise made many years before their salvation.  As they read the promise in retrospect, they will credit the Lord for fulfilling His promise by orchestrating the details of their freedom and restoration.  Otherwise, they easily will find other explanations for their return from captivity.  Usually, we attribute great personal and professional success to individual talents and personal will.  We pat ourselves on the back as we rely upon our internal resources to determine the height and depth of our achievements.  In contrast, when we experience failure, defeat and adversity, we immediately ask “Why God?”  On sunny, balmy and breezy days of spring and summer, we compliment meteorologists for their accuracy in forecasting.  When rain, lightning and thunder disrupt our daily tranquility, we ponder why God allows such potentially damaging occurrences in our lives.  In writing, Jeremiah foretells God’s deliverance and restoration of Israel and Judah years before it occurs.

The third verse contains God’s essential promise.  “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess, says the Lord.”  A prophet both foretells the future and forthrightly declares the truth.  In his office, Jeremiah forewarns the peoples of the Northern and Southern kingdoms about the future consequences of their present sin.  Their intractable rebellion against the character, holiness and Law of Almighty God will yield their conquest and oppression by the Assyrians in 722 BCE and later by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.  Nevertheless, as Jeremiah simultaneously exhorts the people about their iniquity, he offers a word of divine assurance of renewal and return.  This prophecy perfectly reveals God’s character.  He is a holy and righteous God who will not allow any other gods to compete with Him.  He will not tolerate wanton transgressions of His Law and His holiness.  He will not allow His chosen people to trample upon His grace.  But, He loves Israel and Judah with an unfailing, fiercely loyal and covenantal love.  As He allows them to reap justly what they have sown, He graciously and mercifully prepares to lovingly forgive and restore them.  As He promises them the land of Canaan and elsewhere as an inheritance to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He continually adheres to the covenant He makes and maintains.  As a consequence, He must return them to that land even after their captivity.  Otherwise, He would be a liar!

As Israel’s “Good Shepherd” who selflessly cares for His people, the Lord recognizes and respects their fear and pain.  He acknowledges cries of fear and dread amongst the people.  In fact, they are so scared about their well-being that even grown man are hold their stomachs as of they were mothers in labor.  Contrast that startling image of extreme panic with a valiant soldier fully dressed in military gear and armed to battle his opponents.  Every face in Israel and Judah looks “deathly pale.”  Nevertheless, the prophet steadfastly pronounces the coming of the Lord’s consolation.  A new dawn will emerge when they will travel back to the land they inherited from their forbears and enjoy a bright and prosperous future in a familiar place.

Point II – Jeremiah 30:7-12 – Assurance of Delivery and Return

The prophet utilizes equally powerful imagery to depict the Lord’s promised delivery of Jacob from captivity and Judah from bondage.  He asks the people to look with the eyes of the heart and soul to see the Lord’s future liberation and restoration.  Jeremiah acknowledges “this day” will be a time of tremendous trouble and tribulation for Jacob, his characterization of Israel and Judah to encompass the twelve tribes in addition to Ephraim and Manasseh.  They will face the cumulative consequences of their choices as they rebelled willfully against the Lord.  However, the prophet offers a fundamental message of good news.  The Lord will save Jacob from the trouble he creates and the punishment he justly deserves.

Whereas the dawn of the dawn of that day bursts on the horizon with storms clouds and destruction, the afternoon will bring sunshine and restoration following the necessary intermittent rains.  God will break the oppressors’ yoke from Israel’s and Judah’s necks.  He will also sever the chains of bondage and foreigners will no longer enslave His people.  Moreover, God will remove any Gentile government.  In exchange, He will anoint and promote a ruler in the linage and legacy of King David.  This monarch will function concurrently as king and priest of the nation.  Like times of old, Israel and Judah will serve “the Lord their God” as they obey the king.

Accordingly, there is no need to allow fear to paralyze them.  God will surely deliver them from a distant place and protect their descendants.  Their children will not be slaves.  They will assume their rightful inheritance as children of the Most High God who made an oath with their forbears.  Israel and Judah will again live in peace and prosperity.  No one will ever be able to make them feel fear again!  What an incredible promise.  Consider how blissful life would be if you never felt fear to any degree.  This tenth verse is one of the cardinal tenets and assurances of this “Book of Consolation,” chapters thirty, thirty-one and thirty-two, embedded in the book of Jeremiah.

One of the greatest reassurances the Lord makes is His abiding presence in the midst of adversity.  “I am with you and will save you.”  Multiple biblical authors over the expanse of centuries and divergent experiences attest to the incalculable benefits of being in God’s protection.  The Psalter likens the Lord’s presence as a place of refuge.  Solomon refers to it as a strong tower and fortress to which the righteous flee for protection.  Daniel appeals to it for vindication and protection in response to a wicked governmental decree.  Isaiah comforts his audience with blessed assurance that the Lord comes to them in the midst of their deepest distress and upholds them with His all-powerful, righteous right hand.  Spiritually speaking, being in God’s direct presence is equivalent to being in the eye of the storm, the safest and most secure place to be until the danger passes.

In the eleventh verse, the Lord straightforwardly tells the people that He will not pardon their offenses.  Though He will destroy the nations that scatter and subjugate His people, He will not allow those foreign nations to destroy His people.  Again, He will rescue and renew them.  Conversely, the Lord will not let Israel and Judah escape the consequences of their actions.  “I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”  Spiritual laws often parallel natural laws.  Anyone who challenges the forces of nature will be subject the outcomes of his or her choice.  Years of overeating and binging results in obesity.  Alcoholism eventuates in cirrhosis of the liver and other related diseases.  Gambling addictions often end in the loss of all financial and material property not to mention broken marriages and severely damaged families.  Israel’s and Judah’s self-reliance in which the ignored Almighty God culminated in weakening their societies socially, politically and militarily.  Though they prospered greatly, their moral decadence and permissiveness made them vulnerable to foreigners.  Their behavior equated with rebellion against God as they ignored His holy requirements and transgressed His Law.  In fulfillment of His Word, He left them to the end results of their choices.  He permits their captivity as a measure of discipline.

Contrary to popular belief, the object of discipline is not punishment; it is instruction and education.  Discipline assists in correcting mistakes rather than exacting pain and punishment because of those errors.  Everyone is prone to mistakes on any occasion.  Do we wish to learn from our mistakes? Will we continue making them until a pattern of counterproductive behavior hardens in our daily living?  Discipline’s primary objective is to eliminate the ignorance that contributed to the mistake.  To educate stems from the Latin word, educare, this means literally to lead out of darkness into light.  Discipline is an educative tool to help a person compensate for his or her blindsides.  For Israel and Judah, the Lord permits their captivity by foreigners to enable them to contrast the results of self-reliance and social decadence with the prosperity and security of genuinely relying upon Him.  Contemporarily, the Lord will extend His truth and favor to all generations of believers but He will also discipline us out of love.

Point III – Jeremiah 30:13-18 – Chastisement with Consolation

In a moment of intense anger and disappointment, an emotionally volatile parent usually misses an opportunity for a teaching moment.  Instead, a parent’s resentment that a child has failed yet again to learn a lesson by making the same mistake for the one thousandth time compels severe chastisement with verbal excess.  A parent may say something that he or she regrets as he or she observes the deep emotional and psychological wound reflected on the face of his or her child.  An approach combining consolation with chastisement would be more empowering.  After all, the child still needs to learn the lesson even if it takes another thousand attempts.  The Lord’s discipline of Israel and Judah assumes this technique. 

In these six verses, Jeremiah rehearses the nation’s sins.  He characterizes their guilt as superlative and their sins as countless.  As a consequence, he tells them their cries for relief are useless.  The wound of offense against God’s holy character is so deep that it is incurable at first glance.  Moreover, the oppression they will experience will so fierce and unrelenting because of their “great guilt and many sins.”  There simply is no cure.  Besides, their prideful commission of their sinful deeds means they deserve the adverse consequences.  Periodically, our willful actions yield irreversible results.  Smoking five or more packs of cigarettes a day for decades may terminate with an incurable cancer.  Crying aloud for relief will not lessen the pain nor will it miraculously provide a cure.  It will not compel God to suspend natural law however sincere an afflicted patient’s mea culpa.  Jeremiah similarly informs Israel and Judah that they will suffer the end results of their behavior notwithstanding the genuineness of their guilt and regret to the contrary.  Simply, there is no need to plead their defense or offer a rebuttal to the Lord’s decree.  He punishes them with the cruelty of an enemy.  Their predicament is so detrimental that even their allies will forget them and fail to come to their aid.

In stark contrast to the considerable chastisement in the preceding verses, the Lord consoles His people in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses with the same measure with which he rebukes them.  The Lord promises to lift the yoke of oppression and send Israel’s and Judah’s enemies into exile.  He will visit upon their adversaries the same punishment that they bestowed upon His people.  Like a protective Father, the Lord will enter the battle upon behalf of His children and cause their opponents to flee.  Further, He will plunder their enemies and graciously give the spoils to His people.  Ironically, their deepest distress will yield a bountiful blessing as it will enrich them for the future with gold, silver, livestock and booty of war.  More significantly, the Lord pledges to restore their health holistically.  He will heal any lingering diseases.  Each man could take comfort in the Lord’s willingness to restore the fortunes in each of Jacob’s tent.  Practically speaking, each man and his family will recoup their former lifestyles and possessions no matter how extensive their loss.  They will rebuild and recover everything that has been lost.  In addition, God will impart compassion on their dwellings.  Contemporary American citizens dream of owning a home in safe, serene neighborhood with no crime, manicured lawns and pleasant scenery.  Relative to the biblical era and setting of the Ancient Near East, the Lord promises that His obedient and humbled children will live in similar neighborhoods and cities.  He will transform the bricks of ruin into blocks for restoration.  Where desolation was widely visible, new construction and vibrant commerce and communities will stand. 

Point IV – Jeremiah 30:19-24 – The Purposes of God’s Heart

Essentially, Jeremiah announces the purpose of God’s heart for Israel.  His pledge of consolation following their forthcoming destruction maintains God’s unwavering commitment to the covenant He makes with Israel in Genesis 12 and renews throughout Israel’s history from Abraham to the present.  God unfailingly and loyally loves Israel.  His certifies His oath to Israel on the basis of His Name and character which He cannot contradict.  His faithful commitment to His people is not subject to human validation.  Therefore, the collective and unbridled sin of the nation cannot negate the covenant or the blessings it bestows.  In response to their tremendous guilt and innumerable sins, Israel and Judah rightly experiences divine judgment and punishment.  Still, God adheres to His covenant as He pledges renewal and restoration.  He returns Israel and Judah to the land He promised to their forebears.  Moreover, He transforms their ruined lives into new creations as they enjoy security and prosperity under the canopy of His limitless love and unending grace.

Songs often demarcate happy times in our lives.  Most people begin to smile and sing along when an endearing song from their adolescence starts on the radio.  It brings back such favorable memories of innocence, unlimited dreams and carefree living.  Upon their return to the Promised Land, Israel and Judah would sing songs of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for His covenantal deliverance.  The sounds of rejoicing will resound throughout the land.  “The Lord has done this; it s marvelous in our eyes.”  In addition, the birth rate will rise as it does naturally in good economic and political times.  They will desire eagerly to have children in a peaceful and stable environment as they know their posterity will be secure and prosperous.  “The good ole times” will re-emerge as if someone turned back the sands of time and put them in the days of youth, vigor and unlimited imagination.  Their ruler will be one of their very own and not a foreigner.  This head of state will be someone who rightly relates himself to God and thereby secures His perpetual blessings upon the nation.  Chief among them is protection against any future enemies.  “The fierce anger of the Lord” will not relent until He accomplishes these promises on behalf of a people dwell closely to Him.  Summarily, He will fulfill His word because it accords with what the purposes of His heart for Israel and Judah.

The Lesson Applied

Recent natural disasters in the United States and throughout the world offer a visual parallel to Israel’s and Judah’s destruction.  In Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the City of New Orleans, Louisiana was devastated to an unprecedented degree.  Faulty or sub-standard levees in its Ninth Ward neighborhood failed to stem the destruction that the Atlantic Ocean wrought upon one of the nation’s most popular tourist centers.    Aerial video coverage and photos showed a city immersed in high levels of water.  In the neighboring states of Alabama and Mississippi, news reporters filmed people waiting on the roofs of their homes praying for rescue before the water levels overtook them.  Seven years later in October 2012, Super Storm Sandy decimated large areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in addition to extensive residual damage suffered by residents of nearby states.  In both natural disasters, many people lost every single material possession they owned.  Years of hard work and savings were washed away in the furor of wind, water and fire.  In the Staten Island neighborhood, Breezy Point, a spontaneous fire consumed an entire complex of hundred houses.  Rising tides and ferocious waves prevented firefighters from salvaging any homes.  Residents and rescue workers stood helplessly and watched Mother Nature ruthlessly consume their hard earned property and mercilessly erase sentimental mementos symbolizing years of their lives.  Imagine the powerless, bewilderment, fear and hopeless these fellow citizens felt as they experienced such significant loss.  What would they do?  Where would they go?  From whence will the next meal come?  Where will they sleep tonight?  How could they possibly begin to rebuild?  These frightening questions were asked previously by Israel and Judah as they too suffered wholesale devastation.

Approximately a month and a half after Super Sandy, the Northeast region, specifically, and the nation, generally, was struck once again with a monumental tragedy.  On Friday, December 14, 2012, a mentally deranged and deeply psychologically disturbed young man massacred twenty-seven persons before taking his own life.  He went to an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and inexplicably killed twenty-one first grade students and six adults.  Prior to the school shootings, he had killed his own mother whose dead body was found in their home.  This indescribable and collective loss of innocent human lives arguably surpasses the damage of the foregoing natural disasters.  How will the parents of these children and the relatives of the adult victims journey forward in life without their loved ones?  What could anyone specifically clergypersons, psychologists and other counselors possibly say that would comfort any of these grievously bereaved people?  Their grief tastes similar to the bitter gall of Rachel whom the prophet, Jeremiah, records would not be comforted when she lost her children at the hands of the Assyrians.  In that biblical era of 722 BCE, the Assyrians sacked Ephraim and demolished Israel’s and Judah’s history, religion and literature practically erasing their lives.  Everything that the people held sacred was now gone and scattered to ends of the earth like dust in the wind.  Compounding their misfortune, Israel’s and Judah’s children were lost too.  What future could they possibly have?

Let’s Talk About It

·        Have you ever experienced the total loss of your material possessions or something else very important?  Share your feeling and thoughts at the time.

·        Did you think God abandoned you in that experience?  Were you angry with Him for allowing it to happen?

·        Do you agree with God’s discipline of Israel and Judah by punishing them with captivity and exile?

·        What is the purpose of discipline in your opinion? 

·        Have you ever had to rebuild some component of your life?  How did you do it? 

Dark Nights of the Soul - Job 42:1-10

Dark Nights of the Soul

Job 42:1-10

Lesson Setting

The book of Job concludes with Job’s humble submission to the perfect will of Almighty God.  After listening to the exchange between Job and his friends, the Lord answers Job and expounds upon His sovereignty as Creator of the Universe and the Maker of Heaven and Earth.  Job then realizes that he does not know the Lord as well as he previously thought.  Job further appreciates how he nearly falls prey to apostasy, abandoning faith in Almighty God, because of Job’s self-absorption.  When Job finally sees God in His majestic and magnificent mercy and love, Job repents of his sin of doubt and rebellion in his heart.  Incidentally, the Lord rebukes Job’s friends and asks Job to pray for them to enable Job’s faith, humility and sincerity to intervene for them thereby sparing them God’s wrath.  Lastly, the Lord rewards Job’s patience, however ragged and uncultured, with an overwhelming restoration of health, wealth, joy, and wholeness. 

Lesson Outline

I.                 Job 42:1-3 – God Can Do All Things

II.            Job 42:4-6 – I Have Seen the Lord!

III.        Job 42:7-9 – Repenting of Religious Foolishness

IV.         Job 42:10 – An Inimitable and Grand Restoration

Unifying Principle

People often wonder who or what controls the final outcomes in life’s many challenges.  Where can people find answers to life’s ultimate questions?  Job declares that God can do all things and will ultimately prevail over all obstacles, restoring the fortunes of those who are faithful; and the psalmist illustrates how God’s people can pray that God will be gracious to them and preserve their lives.

Introduction

Who is in control?  Is it really God?  A former news junkie, I presently limit my viewing of the local, national and international news programming to once every two to three days.  The overwhelming and disproportionate coverage of negative events such rape, molestation, murder frequent occurrences of natural disasters create feelings of horror and dread.  Spiritually, they result in a crisis in faith as inevitably the question arises as to whether God’s permission of these misfortunes equates with His direct will.  Also, you consider God’s ability or inability to prevent such despicable deeds.  These hard questions demand satisfactory answers.  Reluctantly, many disciples accept their inability to protect their families from these everyday dangers.  Thus, they rely more heavily upon Almighty God to do so.  If He appears indifferent, then they digress to blaming Him.  If He were really in control, it stands to reason He would protect righteous persons from such horrors.

As Job nears the end of living through a season of dark nights of the soul, his friends insist his personal disasters and suffering equal just punishment for hidden sin that Job fails to confess.  Job, however, steadfastly declares the moral error in his dilemma and forthrightly blames God.  Job reasons God’s character in Job’s present crisis belies God’s previous revelation of Himself as the Sovereign Lord of the Universe.  Simply put, Job questions God’s abilities when he assesses his sudden and inexplicable pain and suffering.  Both Job and his friends, extremely loyal to their conceptualizations of God, fail to see Him as He reveals Himself in Job’s life.  Requiring humility, an open mind, honesty inquiry and willingness to change and grow, genuine faith matures as disciples progress spiritually in a relationship with Almighty God.  Distinct from formulaic and traditional religion which depends mostly upon human creeds and rituals, genuine spirituality enables disciples to learn about God’s attributes through a direct relationship with Him.  Humbled by the Lord’s answer to His ramblings and protestations, Job finally realizes and clearly sees God’s essence as love, faithfulness, grace and mercy in the midst of Job’s ordeal.

Simply stated, Job understands God’s favor and blessings are not restricted to peaceful surroundings and happy circumstances.  Job discovers, in a moment of incredible revelatory truth, no situation however dreadful and disastrous nullifies God’s character and sustaining presence.  He humbly repents of his dogged pronouncements of his innocence.  He eventually sees God for the first time.

Job’s example teaches disciples the redemptive nature of God’s love as He utilizes natural chaos and unexplained human suffering as venues to demonstrate His faithfulness, goodness and peace.  As disciples will never be able to comprehend the mysterious and majestic motives of Almighty God who does not subordinate His sovereignty to human whims, we respond to God’s will and correction with unwavering obedience.  Our fellow disciples journey with us in difficult times; sharing their experiences, strength and hope.  Together, we reaffirm the foundational truth that God has the whole world in His hands.

Exposition

Point I – Job 42:1-3 – God Can Do All Things

In many ways, Job’s extensive period of tribulation has been one big test of faith.  Does Job genuinely believe in God’s intrinsic attributes (all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing and inherently kind)?  Does Job authentically worship Almighty God because of who God is?  Is Satan correct when he suggests at the beginning of the book that Job’s allegiance to God depends solely upon God’s financial and material blessings?  If God removes them; then Job will abandon his faith because it no longer yields creature comforts.  The deal which God and Satan strike necessitates that Job experience unimaginable horror and destitution.  Will Job continue to rely genuinely upon God despite the loss of his children, health and material possessions? 

Commendably, Job adamantly resists the simple-minded approach of his “friends” who arrive to comfort Job in his deep distress.  Job boldly and firmly asks the most difficult theological questions.  He struggles to reconcile his conceptualization of God with his sudden, unexpected and inexplicable reversal of fortunes.  He wants to know how his God who made an enduring covenant with Job’s forbears could allow such personal tragedy and permit limitless evil in the world.  How is Job to understand his pain and suffering as he has served diligently and worshipped faithfully a God who pledges to bless those persons who live in right relationship with him?  His predicament rightly encourages Job to consider whether God indeed possesses the inherent attributes that Job had been taught?  Instead of articulating sacrilegious questions out of bitterness, resentment and strife, Job endeavors to strengthen his relationship with God through these hard and unpleasant inquiries.

Questioning, contrary to prevalent beliefs in many church circles, is a significant aspect of spiritual progress.  Just as little children mature as they ask questions to resolve their curiosity and discover new dimensions of life, disciples equally grow spiritually as they courageously embrace difficult faith questions.  Living through dark nights of the soul necessitates a greater trust in God’s faithfulness, love, provision and protection.  Questions enable a greater appreciation of these divine attributes.  Recitation of clichés hardly reassures a disciple who penetratingly feels forsaken and abandoned by Almighty God.  Honestly admitting his angst and apprehensions, a disciple opens his mind and heart to receive a greater revelation of God’s unfailing love and trustworthiness.  For Job, his tribulations enable him to see God’s sovereignty as clearly as he ever has.  As the Lord allows Job to interrogate Him, perhaps even cross examine Him, for a lengthy period of time without interrupting Job or punishing Job’s defiance, He graciously demonstrates His loving patience, tender mercy and longsuffering kindness.  Throughout his ordeal, whereas Job questions God’s abilities and character, Job unwaveringly trusts in God nonetheless.  The sum of his experience equates with an epiphany.  God can do all things regardless of life’s adversities and challenges. 

Parenthetically, it is important to contrast questioning God with trust in God.  In the former instance, a disciple straightforwardly seeks greater understanding in how to reconcile God’s character with negative experiences that contradict God’s nature.  Also, a disciple desires to understand the reasons for which God permits an unfortunate event.  A devoted lay officer in his local church and member of the choir and men’s fellowship, a retired New York City bus driver wants to know why God allowed the car accident that took his eldest son’s life.  He stands at the scene of the collision and ponders why an angelic presence instructed by Almighty God did not intervene.  Parents of an honor roll scholar-athlete struggle to comprehend the death of their son who fell asleep at the wheel on the way to school.  An infertile couple who suffered multiple miscarriages wants to know why the road to parenthood is filled with so many potholes when blithering imbeciles seem to conceive without trying.  All of these people have very legitimate questions which loving and gracious fellow disciples will extend them the liberty and patience to proffer.  Nevertheless, their questions do not mean that they do not trust God.  They may ask to obtain a greater revelation of God’s love and character.  Actually, their questions which I believe Almighty God welcomes affords them exactly that blessing; they realize that God’s love is indeed powerful enough to triumph in any adversity and disaster.  In accordance with Romans 8:28, they steadfastly believe that God will orchestrate each detail of their misfortune toward a loving and redemptive outcome.  The bus driver reasons his mind will not be able to accept any explanation as the trauma of his loss and depth of his emotions far exceed any earthly attempts to help him comprehend his son’s death.  As a consequence, he accepts the peace of God which surpasses human reason.  Practically speaking, he realizes a greater sense of gratitude for his remaining children and recommits himself to being the best father to them of which he is capable.  Eventually, the parents of the honor roll student soberly accept their negligence as it related to insisting that their son sleep enough as he had only slept four hours on the night before his fatal collision with a tree.  As a result of their tragedy, they dedicate themselves to comforting other parents who suffer a similar loss.  Not surprisingly, the infertile couple becomes adoptive parents a boy and a girl for whom they are grateful eternally.  The Lord majestically and magnificently ordained both adoption processes in which every legal technicality unfolded perfectly.  Today, they cannot imagine the heartache they once felt as they see God’s love and their hearts personified in their children. 

Both Job’s example and the challenges of the foregoing disciples reflect the spiritual certainty that Almighty God can do all things.  Job learns this maxim through his ordeal.  Previously, he assents to the concept as a matter of theoretical truth.  As Job genuinely rely upon God and unwaveringly trusts Him, Job experientially learns that God is indeed all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present and all-kind.  These attributes intellectually and concretely cohere in the character of God.  Thus, God rightfully will not permit any human occurrence to thwart His divine purposes.  When it appears such a fallacy occurs, God behind the scenes redeems human pain and suffering to accomplish His direct, intentional, perfect and ultimate will.  As Job lives through his tribulation, he digresses to relying upon physical sight instead of spiritual insight.  He then cannot understand God’s sovereignty as grace, mercy and love instead of autocratic power and indifference to human fragility.  Eventually, when the scales fall from Job’s eyes, he comprehends this vital truth.  God is love and every event offers an opportunity for disciples to better understand and receive God’s unfailing love.

Point II – Job 42:4-6 – I Have Seen the Lord!

In the next few verses, Job repents of his arrogance and self-righteousness both of which he cloaks appropriately in righteous indignation.  It appears Job’s ego undermines his best intentions to understand divine mysteries.  Job focuses heavily and meticulously upon the unfair nature of his suffering given his stalwart righteousness prior to the onset of his colossal misfortunes.  In addition to the epiphany, a sacred and profound moment of realization of a previously hidden truth, relating to God’s sovereignty and integrity, Job acknowledges “Surely, I spoke of things I did not understand.”  As he more greatly appreciates the Lord’s unquestionable faithfulness and unfailing love even during his recent trauma, Job more significantly apprehends the necessity of humility as an effective means of rightly relating to God.  Job’s humility enables him to actually see God for the first time.

Interestingly, our presumptions and traditions often blind us as we uncritically accept the beliefs of other people.  I suggest many disciples particularly trust the creeds and affirmations of their forbears without examining the practical and pragmatic relevance as well as intellectual respect ability of these tenets of faith.  Whereas we inherit a rich tradition of faith which we combine with reason, personal experience and scripture, we humbly accept that our beloved forebears saw through a glass dimly just as we do.  Practically speaking, they were wrong in some of their beliefs just as we are because of limitations of human thought and experience.  When contemporary disciples insist God’s character accords with their uncritical acceptance of someone else’s experience, they inadvertently engage idolatry as they worship their impressions of God rather than the One True God of the Universe, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.  Devoutly religious persons are more prone to confusing God with their conceptualizations of Him.  Conceivably, Job suffers from this type of religiosity which esteems rituals, rites and works righteousness as the surest means of relating to God.

It is in the midst of his trauma that Job clearly sees Almighty God in His purse essence, perhaps for the very first time.  It is said that crisis forges and reveals character.  To really know someone, you observe their actions and listen to their thoughts during a catastrophe which usually does not allow anyone to maintain pretenses.  In the utter darkness of his adversity, Job sees God’s love and faithfulness with a clarity that religious creeds and doctrines however logical and enduring cannot yield.  Humbly, Job acknowledges the limitations of his previous theoretical knowledge of God.  “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”  His insight unfolds through the eyes of Job’s heart.  He understands God because of his newfound relational and experiential knowledge of the Lord.  Job no longer need rely upon traditional sayings or clichés.  His direct experience assures Job of God’s infinitely good and powerful character.

One of the key insights that Job apprehends is God’s incredible and mysterious ability to redeem human pain and suffering toward His purposes.  Perhaps, wishing it were avoidable, Job grasps God’s use of Job’s suffering to teach Job about God’s authentic character which does not change like shifting sand and shadows.  Rather, God’s divine attributes are intrinsic and infinite; thereby meaning anyone who trusts in God has assurance of His unfailing love and unquestionable faithfulness regardless of personal circumstances and human affairs.  Further, Job possibly recognizes God’s use of Job’s experience to instruct the rest of His chosen people.  Israel and Judah need not fear any reprisal of foreign enemies nor shenanigans of other gods as their God will protect, deliver and provide for them.  Always, He will redeem and transform their pain and suffering toward a more favorable and prosperous outcome. 

In response to this monumental spiritual awakening, God repents in dust and ashes.  Possibly, he forever renounces religion in exchange for a genuine reliance upon Almighty God.  He now appreciates that the most reliable way of knowing God is a vibrant, progressive, primary and direct relationship to which Job commits himself unreservedly.

Point III – Job 42:7-9 – Repenting of Religious Foolishness

The Lord condemns the words of Job’s friends.  He sternly rebukes them for their religious foolishness; whereby in their wholehearted intent to protect God’s character and maintain righteousness by insisting upon Job’s unabashed confession, they actually slander Almighty God.  In a court of law, the Lord would due them for falsely misrepresenting Him and His character.  Again, many religious people who are far more committed to their ideas and traditions than they are to God fall prey to this temptation and sin.  Many of them are more conversant with church culture and mores than they are the Word of God.  They serve the “God of the Religious Right,” the “God of the Moral Majority,” the “God of the Christian Coalition,” or the “God of the Diaspora.”  They pledge allegiance to these gods of their historic institutions and contemporary politics.  In stark contrast to the God that the Bible reveals who demonstrates partiality to poor and oppressed persons, these false gods only blesses American citizens who are gainfully employed, law-abiding, aspiring middle strata taxpayers who contribute significantly to the gross domestic product of the United States.  To equate the One True God with these concept equates with taking the Lord’s Name in vain as these misguided disciples insist that God only adheres to their idea of who He is.  Centuries earlier, Eliphaz, the Temanite, and his companions exemplified this fallacy as they sought to defend God against Job’s reproaches.  Instead of commending them, God angrily attacks them for them sanctimonious behavior and self-aggrandizing words.

Most interestingly, the Lord tells Eliphaz that he and his companions have not spoken the truth about Him as Job has.  The persons who are convinced that they have most straightforwardly and correctly represented Almighty God are being told they have not!  Captives to their religious worldview and unrelentingly committed to furthering its aim, Eliphaz and friends willingly distorts God’s image to maintain their psychological and emotional comfort.  They flatly refuse to entertain any of Job’s legitimate questions about God’s character in the midst of the dark nights of the soul.  Eliphaz and friends act as if they are a celestial police force which zealously protects the integrity of God’s character.  Their self-righteous pretense actually distances them from God as He resents their attempt to limit Him to their finite definitions and descriptions.  In an act of extreme irony, the Lord instructs Job to intercede for them in order that they may receive an authentic revelation of God to replace their petrified religion.  After Eliphaz and friends offer an acceptable sacrifice, the Lord graciously receives Job’s prayer on their behalf.  Hopefully, they leave Job’s residence finally relinquishing their allegiance to religion and permanently replacing it with a right relationship with Almighty God.

In modern terms, Eliphaz and his companions represent longstanding church members who are unmerciful in their insistence upon the exacting conditions that seeks and new disciples must meet in order to demonstrate their sincerity as Christians.  Usually, these long-term church goers utilize their traditions and customs as the means of determining the Christian lifestyle.  Their pervasive biblical illiteracy eliminates the Bible as criteria.  Nevertheless, these persons fail to acquire humility and appreciate that they can learn a lot from new believers about God’s current expressions of His love, grace and faithfulness.  Instead, they are willing to allow the spiritual and practical death of their churches in order to preserve their traditions rather than receive new disciples with open minds and hearts.  This contrast between the two types of believers parallels the differences between religion and spirituality.  In the former instance, well-intentioned moral and ethical persons adhere to credo and code of behavior seeking to acquire a righteous lifestyle that Almighty God accepts.  In the latter case, sincerely humble persons willingly submit themselves to God and His will, both of which are greater than they are, with a genuine hope of maturing into a spiritual being who unselfishly and purposely serves the Lord by meeting the daily, concrete and practical needs of humankind.

Point IV – An Inimitable and Grand Restoration

Essentially, Job passes the test.  He finds true humility as he understands that he, Job, will never be able to limit God to Job’s conceptualization.  In the grand mystery of God’s character, the Lord orchestrates humankind’s affairs to accomplish His ultimate and perfect will.  For creatures of time like Job, the Lord’s seemingly glacial pace in fulfilling His will creates a crisis in faith.  Inevitably, Job articulates very hard questions seeking to understand God while simultaneously advocating his own righteousness despite the unfair reversal of fortunes.  Nonetheless, though Job forthrightly confronts God about Job’s dilemma, Job does not renounce his faith in God.  Thereby, Job maintains faithfulness as a son and believer of God.  In turn, Job’s fidelity enables him to witness God’s unquestionable faithfulness.

As God consistently rewards faith with blessings that emerge naturally for the actions disciples take in demonstrating their faith, Job receives double what he lost.  The final chapter enumerates Job’s bountiful blessings which greatly exceed his losses.  It is significant to note that these blessings originate from God’s inherent kindness, generosity, grace and love.  They are not a quid pro quo whereby Job or other believers refer to their righteousness as deserving concrete, financial and material rewards.  Also, believers cannot bargain with God.  Incidentally, the story of Jephthah teaches the dangers of covetousness, taking the Lord’s Name in vain and making self-seeking vows to the Lord.  Still, God intrinsically desires to give good gifts to His children just as any loving parents of limitless means would simply share his bounty with his beloved children.

The Lesson Applied

Let’s Talk About It

1.     If Job asks you to pray for him, what would you include in your prayer of intercession?

2.   Define humility.  Share an instance in which you were humbled by Almighty God.

3.   After Job’s ordeal, should he maintain friendship with Eliphaz and his companions?  Give reasons for your answers.

4.   Considering the turbulence of the world (Northern Ireland, the Sudan, Somalia, Middle East, terrorism, etc), do you still believe that God intervenes in human affairs?

Can questioning God lead to a maturing faith?  Answer this question using Job’s example and the story in Mark 9:14-29.