Day 207

A few days ago I mentioned a some things that were going on with me. And how my first instinct was to reach out to human entities to share my burdens with. And the Bible tells us that this is more than acceptable. In fact, the scripture states: Bear one another’s burdens and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2. Bearing each other’s burdens fulfills the law of Christ. What law is Paul discussing? During Jesus’ final moments before His walk down to Gethsemene, these are the words He left for His disciples: A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another.” John 13:34. And we have looked at 1st Corinthians 13 where it states that “love bears all things.” So we fulfill the law of Christ when we support one another in love. And without my support system, who knows where I would be? But before sharing our burdens with others, God wants us to share them with Him.

This concept of casting our burdens on God is an Old Testament staple. Listen to the psalmist rendition of this eternal truth: Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm. 55:22. Peter, who knew His Master was able to say with confidence: casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7. And that is exactly what I have been training myself to do. I remember the first time I attempted to really put this into practice, I had to have been in my mid-twenties. The man that I thought would marry me, asked someone else to be his wife. I’ve spoken about this before during previous devotional posts. As soon as I found out, I went on my knees. But I prayed blessings upon the couple, and that His will might be done. But I did not really “cast my anxieties” or “burdens” upon Him.

What was holding me back? I knew what the word of God said, but to me, it did not make practical sense to “burden” the God of the universe, with my romantic dilemmas. Yet here is the Bible speaking directly to my heart and situation: The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalm 34:18. And for some reason, I could not really visualize that the same God who spoke life into existence, would really care about my broken heart. But in fact, Jesus said: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed…” Luke 4:18.

Jesus desires to be there for us in every aspect of our lives. And finally, in my mid-thirties I began to really let Him in. So last week when I mentioned that I had nowhere to turn but to Him. What I did was place Him in first, and set Him as my only. I claimed the promises of God and took to heart that He cares about everything having to do with my life. Because when a parent is with their child, and even though they have so many responsibilities with their work and with life, they do not dismiss their child. Instead, they make time to address whatever ailments have stressed their loved ones. That is how God is with us. And I had to learn that side of the Gospel.

As I continue to learn more about this God who is concerned with every aspect of my life, I will pray that He keeps me close to His side. And I want to share my testimony, that God has made a way where there seemed to be no way! I am on the road to recovery, healing physically, mentally, and spiritually. And what He is doing for me I cannot even believe. Because I am not worthy, but His word tells me that: It is because of the Lord’s lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, Because His [tender] compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion and my inheritance,” says my soul; “Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” Lamentations 3:22-24.

Day 28

One of the most popular texts in the Bible is Jeremiah 29:11. It has been my favorite go-to text for almost 20 years. I have included it in all my email signatures and can quote it in different versions. But what about the verses preceding and proceeding it? What about the actual context that this beautiful promise was written for? The nation of Judah was taken captive by Babylon because of their rejection of their covenant with God. They had decided collectively as a people to walk away from their relationship with Jehovah. God, respecting their decision, let them have their wish. But it wasn’t without warning. God begged through prophets to choose life and obey His principles and commandments of love:
See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.” (Deut. 30:15-18)

Here their top prophet Moses forewarns them of what could happen if they a) Choose Life and Choose Love = Choose God. Or they could b) Choose Death and Choose Destruction  = Choose Devil. Newsflash, they choose option b. And so fast forward to our present text in Jeremiah 29.

Although verse ll is still a staple in my scripture repertoire, let’s take a look at verse 10: For thus saith the LORD, That after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, causing you to return to this place.” How beautiful! And before we think that God pulled a magical number from His hat, take a look at these verses as to why it had to be 70 years: Lev. 25:4; 2nd Chron. 36:21. Every choice has a ripple effect. And the choices of their ancestors had evoked a chain of events that led to their captivity. What is so fascinating, is that if you read the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, they were still warning the people, but they behave worse than their predecessors, and so continued with option b. When the door of probation had finally closed it seemed as if grace ran out. But reading verse 10 of Jeremiah 29 where He says “I will visit you“, we can see that the grace of God never expires. You may expire the time frame on probation may end, but grace is eternal. It is a part of the personality of God, it is a gift that He extends of Himself towards us: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. (Eph. 2:8.).

God is so desperate to save us that He sent Himself as the prototype and sacrifice at the same time. We’ve discussed before that God desires to be known, and none of that changes, even when we reject Him. In the book of Malachi chapter 3 vs. 1 God says “For I am the Lord, I change not…” And we know now that God is Love, and that love needs to be given away in order for it to be effective (John 3:16). So when He says He will visit them, He meant it. A few thousand years later, He still means it. He wants to visit us, spend time with us. That is one of the reasons that He created a space in time called the Sabbath (one day we’ll spend an entire devotion on this beautiful concept that God created). Mark 2:27 Jesus says that He made the Sabbath for mankind. And in Revelation 3:20 He says that He’d love to have dinner with you, I think He’s cooking. God is all about spending time with us, but He won’t force anyone.

This is why in verse 12 of Jeremiah 29, He says: Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” Now why this verse in this specific wording? Do you remember the portion when we spoke about how they rejected His pleas toward them? How He sent His prophets and they ignored His messages? So God essentially is saying, “When you’re ready to make up, I’m here.” And we know that’s what He is saying because take a look at the next 2 verses: You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you...”

Believe it or not, God gets His feelings hurt as well. And He doesn’t want to be in a relationship in which the other party is uncomfortable because He is there. So He is looking to see if they will want Him back. The reality is, is that He is never far away: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). I don’t know not one person on this planet that has not had their heart broken or spirit crushed. God is nearer than we will ever know, He’s just waiting on us to call on Him, so He can visit us. And what do you think a visit from the Creator of the universe can do for you? Verse 14 of Jeremiah 29 says that He will be found by you and that He will restore you. What part of your life needs to be restored today?