Context No. 4322 of 4322 · Baruch

Baruch 4:17-26: in context

17But I—how can I help you? 18For he who brought these calamities upon you will deliver you from the hand of your enemies. 19Go your way, O my children. Go your way, for I am left desolate. 20I have put off the garment of peace, and put on the sackcloth of my petition. I will cry to the Everlasting as long as I live. 21Take courage, my children. Cry to God, and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies. 22For I have trusted in the Everlasting, that he will save you; and joy has come to me from the Holy One, because of the mercy that will soon come to you from your Everlasting Savior. 23For I sent you out with mourning and weeping, but God will give you to me again with joy and gladness forever. 24For as now those who dwell near Zion have seen your captivity, so they will shortly see your salvation from our God which will come upon you with great glory and brightness of the Everlasting. 25My children, suffer patiently the wrath that has come upon you from God, for your enemy has persecuted you; but shortly you will see his destruction and will tread upon their necks. 26My delicate ones have traveled rough roads. They were taken away like a flock carried off by enemies.

As the people of God grieve in exile, this passage speaks to them like a mother comforting her children: take courage, my children; cry to God, and he will deliver you. Though they were sent out with mourning and weeping, God will give them back with joy and gladness. I have trusted in the Everlasting that he will save you, and joy has come to me, because of the mercy that will soon come to you from your everlasting Savior.

What stands out is the confident hope that runs through this comfort. The present is one of sorrow, exile, and affliction; but the word to God's grieving children is not despair, it is courage and hope. Cry to God, take courage, for he will deliver. The sorrow is real but passing; the salvation coming from the everlasting Savior is sure. Those sent out with weeping will be brought back with joy and gladness that lasts forever.

Whatever sorrow or exile we may know now, the message to God's children remains: take courage; cry to God; he will deliver you. Our present griefs are not the end of the story. God is our everlasting Savior, and the salvation he brings comes with joy and gladness that will not pass away. Those who now go out weeping will, in his time, be brought home rejoicing. So we lift our hearts to God, trusting the mercy that is surely coming, and taking courage.

Whatever sorrow or exile I may know now, will I take to heart this word to God's children, to take courage and cry to him who is my everlasting Savior, trusting that my present griefs are not the end of the story and that he will bring those who go out weeping home again with joy and gladness that lasts forever?

Sources

Baruch 4:21: "Take courage, my children. Cry to God, and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies."
Baruch 4:22: "For I have trusted in the Everlasting, that he will save you; and joy has come to me from the Holy One, because of the mercy that will soon come to you from your Everlasting Savior."
Baruch 4:23: "For I sent you out with mourning and weeping, but God will give you to me again with joy and gladness forever."