The Name Above All
Day 1 - God's gift to a suffering people
“The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’’ -Jeremiah 33:14-16
They were well into the second year since it all began. The noises, the yelling, the palpable sense of fear that hung in the air. Nobody seemed to know what to do. At first they had thought that the walls would keep them safe; surely they would eventually give up and leave, wouldn’t they? Yet now, after so many months what hope did they have? How much longer could they hold on? Nobody really knew…
It had been well over twelve months since the Babylonian army had come and surrounded the city of Jerusalem, laying siege against the city, seeking to break down its walls and take over. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were terrified and morale and hope were failing. Jeremiah the prophet had been confined to a military garrison by his own king in an attempt to silence him.
That is the context of Jeremiah 32-33, and in the midst of that darkness comes a light of hope. God speaks to Jeremiah for a second time and calls him to remember! ‘Remember the promise Jeremiah; hold on to the promise’. This was the second time that God had declared to Jeremiah that “I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line”. We find the same Messianic promise of hope made in Jeremiah 23:5-6. God saw and knew all that the people of Jerusalem were feeling and He came with a word of hope.
(Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski via Unsplash)
“Hope is not the result of human virtue, human ingenuity, human grit, or human imagination. Nor does it derive from success, military might or technological prowess…Hope is God’s gracious gift to suffering people who are at their breaking point. It is the promise of life when none is expected.” -Louis Stulman
This is what Advent is about. A time to remember again the promises that God made to send the Messiah and the fulfillment of that promise in Jesus Christ. It is a time to remember that God is with us in our own struggle to find hope in the most difficult times and to look ahead and believe that His promises still stand and to declare ‘Great is your faithfulness’!
What is happening in BC is such a tragedy, and it is hard to imagine how challenging it is for the people living there. At House of Prayer Edmonton, where I am the Director, we are regularly in prayer for the people affected by the flooding in our prayer meetings, and I am very glad to hear that agencies like Samaritan's Purse are on the ground helping. We will continue to pray.
From a distance prayer is about the only thing we can do, including prayers of thankfulness that there are helping agencies such as Samaritan's Purse, Red Cross. But for the folks living in the flooding areas hope is in dikes and sandbags and bull dozers, etc. My niece lives on the edge of Sumas Prairie and she is being sustained by her neighbors, her church family, and all the local government people who seem to be doing a good job; and I suppose hoping that the rains will soon stop. No doubt her faith in God is helping too.