Scripture Daily

Context No. 4260 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 32:24-29: in context

24“Behold, siege ramps have been built against the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, of the famine, and of the pestilence. What you have spoken has happened. Behold, you see it. 25You have said to me, Lord GOD, ‘Buy the field for money, and call witnesses;’ whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” 26Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying, 27“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? 28Therefore the LORD says: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. 29The Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

As the Babylonians build their siege ramps against Jerusalem and the city is about to fall, Jeremiah is puzzled. God has just told him to buy a field, a sign of future restoration, at the very moment when everything is being lost. And into this confusion God speaks a word that anchors everything: Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

What stands out is this sweeping declaration of God's ability. The situation looked hopeless; the city was doomed, the land about to be devastated. Yet God asks, is anything too hard for me? The God of all flesh, the Creator of all, is not limited by what looks impossible to us. Even the restoration of a ruined city and a scattered people, symbolized by the purchased field, is not beyond him.

When circumstances look hopeless and we can see no way forward, God's question still stands: is anything too hard for me? Nothing is beyond the God who made all flesh. He can restore what looks ruined, redeem what looks lost, and bring life where we see only death. When we face what seems impossible, we can rest the question back on him: is anything too hard for the LORD?

When I face a situation that looks hopeless and impossible, do I answer God's own question rightly, that nothing is too hard for the LORD, the God of all flesh, who can restore the ruined and redeem the lost even when I can see no way forward?

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