The Promise

I am going to take you back to Jeremiah in the 10th
year of an eleven year siege. The Prophet had been
confined, food was scarce, the leaders and people
were angry with him. He knew that the people
were going into captivity. He was not popular. It
was a terrible time when Jeremiah received a Word
from God. He was told to purchase land and to put
the deed into an earthenware vessel,
'that it might last for a long time.'
This deed was a promissory note, so to speak, a
guarantee that God would bring His people back
to that place.

'For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:
Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be 
bought in this land.'

So, Jeremiah bought the land, and then this is what
he prayed:

'Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the 
heavens and the earth by your great power and by 
your outstretched arm. Nothing is impossible for 
you...O great and mighty God, whose name is the 
Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed.

Jeremiah finished up his prayer with a heartfelt plea,
filled with anguish. God then said this to him:

 'Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.
Is anything too hard for me?'

(You will find this story in Jeremiah 32)

Reader, God is not hard of hearing; He is not absent;
He is not silent; He is not uncaring. He will fulfill
His promises, if not now, then later. The Israelites
were in captivity for 70 years. Most of those who
went into captivity did not live to see the promise ful-
filled, but their children and their grandchildren did.
Take heart: 
'Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.' 
(Is 49:13)