Looking toward Restoration (7)

Pray Psalm 86.10-12.
For You are great, and do wondrous things;
You alone are God.
Teach me Your way, O LORD;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.
I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And I will glorify Your name forevermore.

Sing Psalm 86.10-12.
(Andrews: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven)
For You are great, You wondrous deeds do;
You are the only and sovereign Lord.
Teach me Your way, let me give heed to,
with all my heart, Savior, all Your Word!
Lord, be gracious to me, Lord, be gracious to me,
praise Your Name forever, Lord!

Review Jeremiah chapters 32, 33; meditate on Jeremiah 33.19-22

Prepare.
1. How sound is God’s covenant with us?

2. Who makes it so sound?

Meditate.
Whenever God entered into or renewed or enlarged His covenant with His people, He always made promises to them. These promises were “for good, and not for evil” (Jer. 29.11) so that the people could live in hope and walk in obedience to the Lord.

Living in God’s covenant – and especially now, in His new covenant – is an adventure of living toward the promises of God. That is, seeing the promises and understanding them as fully as possible, we grow to desire God’s promises above all else, and we fit our daily lives into a course and direction that will position us to realize those promises as we live in obedience to the Lord and His Word.

God commanded Jeremiah to purchase a field. Like many of the physical tokens God had previously used (a sash, potter’s vessels, figs, yokes), this field was a symbol of God’s Word. It would reinforce and make vivid what He had declared to them, that He would bring His people back from captivity and cause their land to prosper once again.

That may have been very hard to believe, given the terrible circumstances that were unfolding for the people of Jerusalem and Judah. But Jeremiah understood that he was to take steps that would move toward the future promises of God. He had written to the captives in Babylon to do the same (Jer. 29.7), and now God was showing him what he must do as well.

In the new covenant, all the precious and very great promises of God are realized in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1.20; 2 Pet. 1.4). He is the end toward which we live in God’s covenant, for the day when we will see Him as He is, and will be like Him (1 Jn. 3.2, 3). Each day we live toward the promises of God by seeking the increase of Christ in and through us in every facet of our lives, so that we glorify God by living and speaking as Jesus would. We have no power to do this on our own; but God’s covenant is God’s covenant. He Who has called us into His covenant and Kingdom will be faithful, by His Word and Spirit, to enable us to grow in Christlikeness and live as witnesses to Him.

Each day, we buy a field by living toward the promises of God – living toward Jesus! The outward circumstances of our lives may be difficult, challenging, or even adverse. But they cannot prevent us – anymore than they could prevent Jeremiah – from living each day toward God’s future and hope, that we will see Jesus and be like Him.

Reflect.
1. What does it mean for you to live toward the promises of God each day?

2. How does living toward God’s promises help us to rise above our circumstances?

3. How can living toward God’s promises affect other believers?

He therefore shews that God would be true and faithful in that promise, so as to multiply his Church like the stars of heaven, and the sands of the sea. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Jeremiah 33.22

Help me to see Jesus in Your word, O Lord, so that today I can…

Pray Psalm 86.1-9.
Ask the Lord to renew your soul with the gladness of Jesus, and to let His light shine through you today.

Sing Psalm 86.1-9.
Psalm 86.1-9 (Andrews: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven)
Bow down Your ear, O Lord and hear me;
I am afflicted and much in need!
Rescue my godly soul, be near me;
save me, O God, all my crying heed!
Lord, be gracious to me, Lord, be gracious to me,
all day long I pray and plead.

Lift up my soul, fill me with gladness;
Lord You are good, You will soon forgive.
Show me abundant lovingkindness;
let all who call on You ever live.
Lord, be gracious to me, Lord, be gracious to me,
heed to my poor pleading give.

When in my trouble, Lord, I call You,
You answer me; there is none like You!
There are no works like Yours, and all whom
You have created shall worship You.
Lord, be gracious to me, Lord, be gracious to me,
all shall glory give to You!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).