“Now when I had delivered the the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: ‘Ah LORD God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. . .” Jeremiah 32: 16, 17, NKJV.
Great God, how blessed we are that even when our faith is not as firm as it should be, You will honor our obedience and answer our prayers. In the matchless name of Jesus Christ we say “Thank You.” Amen.
You will notice that it was after Jeremiah did what the LORD had asked him to do that he prayed to the LORD. Why is that so significant? Because in so doing, the prophet was walking by faith, not by sight. In the eyes of God that calls for a blessing: ‘ “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” ‘ (John 20: 29b). Yesterday we mentioned that Jeremiah must have felt rather ridiculous signing the deed in the presence of witnesses knowing that, according to the “word of the LORD” it was just a matter of time before the Babylonians would carry them away captive, and the land he was purchasing would lay waste.
Even worse was the fact that Jeremiah’s actions were contradictory to his prophecy. Could it be that the prophet did not believe what he was trying to get others to believe? In the spiritual realm as well as the physical, words and actions strengthen each other more than we will ever know. In spite of all that he may have reasoned, God’s prophet did what we, in the twenty-first century must learn to do, take “everything to God in prayer.”
Now he begins to enumerate the actions of God in the past: God is Creator. He can create and re-create. Therefore, nothing we do in the LORD will ever be done in vain. There is nothing to lose when we take God at His Word. That piece of land will not lay waste; it will bloom as “the Garden of the Lord”!
God is a just God. Everyone will receive what he or she deserves at the right time – according to God’s timetable, not ours, for God sees not as we see, because His “eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men” (18, 19)!
God is a Great Deliverer! He brought Israel out of Egypt with such a great deliverance, that to this day, the mighty “signs and wonders” are still remembered (20, 21). If you and I can believe, the same experience can be ours – for there is nothing too hard for the Lord!
God is a covenant-keeping God! The promise that the fathers did not live to receive because of their rebellion, was received by their children even though they did not keep their part of the bargain either (22, 23). Our God took an oath on Himself, seeing there was no one greater than He (Genesis 22: 16 and Hebrews 6: 13, 14)! And He kept His Word.
My God will always keep His Word. So the next time He asks you to do something – just do it! You will never regret it!