Hindsight

October 18 Jeremiah 31:27-32:44

Object Lessons That Demand Obedience

HINDSIGHT

“In the days to come, you will understand all this.” (Jeremiah 30:24)

Have you ever been far from your home with no return in sight?

Can you begin to emotionally relate to how God’s wayward children felt?

During my sophomore year in college, my parents and younger sister sold our home, left my home church, and drove from Springfield, Illinois to sunny Orange County, CA.

My brother and I literally sat on the curb in front of our home and cried…

It’s not like we weren’t invited or strongly encouraged to move. My mom seriously put college flyers in my bedroom when I came home for break. My college was just thirty minutes away from my home in Illinois and all of my life, friends, church, and memories were there. Not to mention my college that I loved and traveled singing for on the weekends. My world was rocked!

“In the days to come, you will understand all of this.” (Jeremiah 30:24)

I am pretty sure they were scratching their heads like I was mine when they heard these words.

Fast forward about thirty years… My husband is a pastor like my father was, and I was telling my dad about moving to El Centro, Ca. “I hate the heat and I don’t speak Spanish, and did I mention that I really, really hate the heat?” When I first went shopping here the music playing was in Spanish and the person waiting on me spoke Spanish, and when I went to the mall my phone said, “Welcome to Mexico” and gave me “roaming charges”.

I felt like I had moved to a foreign country! Everyone spoke Spanish everywhere, and I took French in high school, and Greek in college. “French is a lovely language”, my mother said…

I will never forget the few but meaningful words that my dad spoke to me about this.

He said, “Give it time. It’s the people that make a HOME”

It has taken me a long time to fully grasp this concept and yet it is the center of our reading today. So, let’s unpack the power-punched passage from yesterday’s message.

“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make A NEW COVENANT with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.

The word, “Covenant” means “Relationship”. (As in it’s the people, not the things.) Making a “Covenant” is a binding agreement between two or more parties.

The first covenant was between God and Abraham. God promised to multiply and bless Abraham as he was faithful to him. God also made covenants with Noah, Moses, and David. He gave the people of the Old Testament the Ten Commandments to live by and asked them to always, “Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy.” Basically, the covenant was “I am your God and you are to be my chosen people.” But sadly, He wasn’t their God…They had gods.

The covenant was irrevocably broken when the LORD said, “Your injury is incurable-- a terrible wound.” (Jeremiah 30: 12). That was their state of being. They had chosen other gods and did not want God to be their God. They were not listening, reachable, or repentant.

Although He loved them like a groom loves his bride, they were the “runaway bride” who spent their days at the brothel…So, God tells them that he will now make a NEW COVENANT. How will this be different than the old?

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people…“And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)

God is going to “put his instructions deep within them, and write them on their hearts”.

You see, they never could uphold their part of the covenant, and a covenant is a two-sided agreement. So, God is going to pay their debt for “the damages” and make a way for them to be in a right relationship with HIM. Their wickedness will be forgiven and remembered no more because of the death of His son, Jesus Christ, and God is going to place the Holy Spirit in their hearts. That is their seal and conviction that will be written deep within their hearts.

Before this gift, His people never really knew where HOME was. God’s people will once again sing songs of joy and thanksgiving because they are about to find out what HOME is all about.

What I learned from my many moves is that HOME is a place in your heart that is filled with God and being part of HIS very large kingdom. It is bigger than a hometown and more beautiful than any landscape. It gives you Living Water in the desert and this new family holds your hand even when they do not know your name.

This home is filled with brothers and sisters who are adopted into God’s family, and they are connected to you by an invisible hotline called prayer. God sends you HIS people by HIS mere promptings “written deeply in their hearts”.

HOME is wherever your Father and all His children reside. It may be in the heartland, the mainland, or the desert. It is the kingdom of God and you are never an outsider. You belong. You are welcome. You are loved.

That is what I have learned in… Hindsight!