Our JOY is Secure
Go buy that piece of land, even pay a good amount for its purchase. Do this. That’s what the LORD told his servant, and when the LORD gave this command, His servant, the prophet Jeremiah knew what the people were facing. King Nebuchadnezzar was on the warpath and about overthrow Judah. He had been king for eighteen years, and he wanted Jerusalem, so the plan was to take it.
“Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah, because Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;”
(The Book of Jeremiah 32: 2-3 NASB)
Then the LORD tells His servant Jeremiah that his uncle is coming to see him, to offer him the opportunity to buy a field, and when it’s offered, Jeremiah is to buy it. Now this is the same field that is part of the land that is about to be overthrown by the Babylonians. Yes, many scratch their heads at this direction from the LORD. The price to be paid for the field was worth several days’ wages. Has the LORD ever told you to do something, and it just seems crazy?
Buy a field. &
Yet, why buy a field and pay several days wages, when that same field will soon not belong to you because it will be seized by a warring king.
Why listen to the LORD?
Why obey FIRST and Why ask the LORD why SECOND?
Truly, the actions of Jeremiah display his obedience to the LORD’S commands. When Jeremiah’s uncle came to him and said to him the exact words the LORD had just revealed to Jeremiah, the Bible says of the prophet: “Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. I bought the field . . . .” (The Book of Jeremiah 32: 8b & 9a NASB)
Surely the man of God wondered: Why LORD did I need to buy a field that is about to be seized? Why spend my hard-earned money purchasing a piece of land that will soon not even belong to me?
As a child of God, as a follower of Jesus, and as a redeemed one of Christ, this is a glimpse of the spectacular grace that is ours in Jesus Christ. We see the land transaction and wonder ‘WHY, LORD,’ but the LORD sees Jeremiah’s obedience and knows HIS New Covenant and omnipotence.
“Now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning this city which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine and by pestilence.’
(The Book of Jeremiah 32: 36-40 NASB)
Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.
They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.’ ”
We see the now; GOD sees our future.
We see the today; the FATHER sees our tomorrow.
We see the world surrounding us; the LORD sees HIS glory to come.
Maybe we are walking through suffering today, a trial and a testing of our faith. Hold fast, child of God, and do not depart from your faith in God. His promises are stunningly secure.
The psalmist wrote:
“He changes a wilderness into a pool of water
(The Psalms 107: 35-38 NASB)
And a dry land into springs of water;
And there He makes the hungry to dwell,
So that they may establish an inhabited city,
And sow fields and plant vineyards,
And gather a fruitful harvest.
Also He blesses them and they multiple greatly,
And He does not let their cattle decrease.”
The back-to-front & the upside-down way the LORD works is strategic. He uses the most unqualified, the uneducated, the least respected, and the uninfluential people, and He calls them to become followers of HIM, to be HIS ambassadors. Let us obey the leading of the Holy Spirit, even when it just seems quite crazy to do so. Let us be obedient in our walk with the LORD.
Nothing can destroy our JOY in the LORD, for our JOY is safe and secure in HIM.
We may be called to walk through suffering, and we may even enjoy success while alive on this earth, but our JOY is not found here on earth. When speaking to HIS faithful servants, the LORD JESUS said these words, speaking to them about the JOY that is already theirs: Infinite, Secure, & Anchored through the Holy Spirit of GOD.
“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you,
(The Gospel According to Luke 10: 20 NASB)
but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”