Scripture Daily

Context No. 1832 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 33:1-9: in context

1Moreover the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying, 2“The LORD who does it, the LORD who forms it to establish it—the LORD is his name, says: 3‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’ 4For the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the mounds and against the sword: 5‘While men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city, 6behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. 7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and will build them as at the first. 8I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me. 9This city will be to me for a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’”

The word of the LORD comes to Jeremiah a second time while he is still shut up in the court of the guard, a prisoner. And God, who made the earth and formed it, gives him an invitation: call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and hidden things that you do not know. He goes on to promise, over the ruined city, healing and restoration, cleansing from all their sin, and that the city will become for him a name of joy and praise before all the nations.

The heart of this passage is an open invitation, and it is worth noticing to whom it is given and from where. It is spoken to Jeremiah while he is in prison, confined, unable to go anywhere or do anything, in circumstances that might seem to shut down every possibility. And into that confinement God says: call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and hidden things you do not know. The invitation is not limited by Jeremiah's circumstances; imprisoned though he is, he can still call on God, and God will answer, and will show him things he could never find out on his own. There is great encouragement in this invitation, especially for the times we feel confined, stuck, shut in by circumstances we cannot change. When our situation seems to close down every avenue, when we are, in one way or another, imprisoned, by illness, by limitation, by circumstances beyond our control, one avenue is never closed: we can still call on God. And God's promise is not merely to hear, but to answer, and to show us great and hidden things we do not know, things beyond our own knowledge and reach. Prayer is a door that no confinement can shut; and behind it is a God who answers, and who can reveal to us what we could never discover by ourselves. So often we try to figure things out on our own, to reason our way through what confuses us, when God is inviting us to call on him and receive what is beyond our own working out. Call to me, and I will answer, he says, and will show you great and hidden things you do not know. Whatever confines us, this invitation stands open: to call on God, who answers, and who knows and can show us what we cannot find out ourselves. The prisoner Jeremiah was invited to call on a God for whom his prison was no barrier at all.

When I feel confined or stuck, shut in by circumstances I cannot change, and try to reason my own way through, do I forget the invitation God gave the imprisoned Jeremiah, call to me and I will answer, and will show you great and hidden things you do not know, and will I take up the one door no confinement can shut, calling on the God who answers and reveals what I cannot find out myself?

Sources