Daily Lesson for August 13, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapter 32 verses 1 through 3 and 6 through 10:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, 3 where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, “Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it . . ."

6 Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.” 8 Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

9 And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10 I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales.

What a so deeply resolved and also touching scene.  It makes me almost shudder to read what is happening here.

Because of his outspoken condemnation and prophesy against the nation, Jeremiah is under house arrest in the confines of the king.  He is called a prophet of doom, a subversive, and an enemy to the state.

And he does not relent in his pronouncements of judgements against Judah.  It will fall, he says.

Yet then, even with the ramparts set up all around the city of Jerusalem, and Nebaccadrezzar's soldiers starving its residents out, Jeremiah now dares to purchase a plot of land in Judah as a prophetic sign of its restoration.

In spite of all its failures, in spite of all its blasphemies and faithlessness, in spite of the fact that Babylon is beating down the door, yet Jeremiah still believes in its eventual redemption, he still believe in its vision, he still believes in its purpose, and he still believes in its God.

Things are getting bad here in America.  This morning I read that upwards of 200,000 Americans have already died this year of COVID-19.  I also read that Stein Mart has filed for bankruptcy.  Ohio State has cancelled football.  And we are about to see problems with the reopening of schools across America.  We've made some really bad choices over the last six months and perhaps six decades, and now the siege works are set up against us.

But I still believe in America.  I still believe in its purpose.  And I still believe in its long-term future.

And so, though the plot of ground may not be worth near as much in the near term, I'm still going to buy it.  I'm going to buy because I believe that that's where the tree is growing, and from which, one day, the righteous Branch shall spring.

Lord, hasten the day . . .

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year.  God is really speaking to us through it.  Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapters 35-37.