| |
This chapter essentially reiterates the destruction we’ve known will come upon Jerusalem and the peace and prosperity God has promised on the horizon…after the exile.
Jeremiah is told to go purchase land. This is what he believes the Lord has told him. I want to focus specifically on this act of hearing God. You’ll notice in the chapter that Jeremiah is told that his cousin will visit and direct him to buy some land. Then he waits. Don’t jump over that simple phrase. Jeremiah waits.
He waits for what he believes God has told him will come forth before him. He waits for confirmation. He waits with anticipation that if this is truly of God, then He will do as He says. We see in past chapters of the OT that when men get impatient, bad things happen.
In 1 Samuel 13, we see Saul take matters into his own hands when God’s words do not happen as quickly as he wants. In the next chapter, 1 Samuel 14, he almost loses his son Jonathon because of his impulsiveness.
Jeremiah waits and his cousin shows up. At that time, he says, “…I knew the message was from the Lord.” Confirmation through another fellow believer was the signaling that action had to take place on the part of Jeremiah.
We live in a nation of “doers.” There is definitely a place for followthrough, action, and obedience. However, if the timing is not of God, it will not succeed. We must be like Jeremiah and wait on the Lord with anticipation, but relentlessly pursue when the right time comes.