Limavady Independent Methodist Church
Sunday 29 November 2020
Jeremiah 33 verses 1 - 3
Jeremiah is in the prison house. These are difficult times for him. Chaotic times. Confusing times. Times of mayhem. Commentators have their own idea about his prophecy. It is a marvel indeed of God's grace and mercy that we have this book recorded for us. At one time the scroll on which Jeremiah wrote his book was taken to Jehoiakim the king. He took the scroll out of the priests hands and cut it up into little pieces and flung them into the fire. God told Jeremiah to re-write the words. Evidence of God preserving his word down through the years. The amazing thing is that God spoke to Jeremiah.
The circumstances into which God spoke. He was locked up under instructions of the king because the people didn't like his message. The people wanted to quieten him. The people followed idols and God brought judgment on the nation. God told them they would soon have to surrender to the Chaldean people. The false prophet told the people that God would rescue them but God had prophesied they would be in captivity for 700 years under Babylon rule. Today we hear people telling us God will never prevent us from getting into heaven, that you can do what you want in this present day. God says no sin will enter into heaven. God sent his son into the world to die for our sins and is waiting for people to accept him. This is the message Jeremiah had to give to the people. Nothing is said of what would happen to Jeremiah, whether he would be delivered out of the prison house or not. Think of Daniel in the lions den. God didn't deliver him from the den but rather delivered him whilst he was in the circumstances. The devil will tell us that if we are living near to God we wouldn't be in this situation. It is reassuring to know that God is with us in the middle of the circumstances. Are you listening for God to speak to you. We need to be listening for the word of God through people and circumstances. Our faith depends not on circumstances. We walk by faith not by sight. God is there in the middle of the circumstances. Remember Samuel as he lay his head on the pillow at night - it was then God spoke to him. It didn`t matter about the circumstances or his age or what he was living in. Think of Mary's circumstances. Wherever she was the angel came to her and told her she would conceive and bear a son. Mary looked at the angel and I am sure for a moment she thought 'how can these things be?' God wasn't thinking of her circumstances. He was able to deliver her out of the circumstances. This son would be the son of God. God was working through the circumstances. Think of Gideon threshing corn in secret. God came right to where he was. Gideon could see the Midianites as grasshoppers in the valley beneath. The angel told him God would use him to deliver Israel. Gideon looked at the angel and said 'you don't know me and my circumstances, I am from the poorest family in Israel, I am the least of my father's house.' God wasn't worried about the circumstances. Jeremiah was out on the streets one day and the next day arrested and put in prison. God wants to speak to you in the midst of your circumstances. God knows about your circumstances. He has a message to speak through your circumstances. Gideon gathered up 32,000 of an army but God reduced them to a few hundred. Then God said 'go out and I will deliver you.'
The challenge that came to him. God didn't come in and rescue him from the prison house. Remember Peter when he was in a similar situation and the angel came in to where he was and led him out though the locked doors of the prison. God comes in the midst of a difficult circumstance just as he did here for Jeremiah. The Lord told him "Call upon me" in the loneliness of the place you are in. Are we listening for God's voice and hearing what he has to say to us today? God has allowed these circumstances to happen. He has a word for you in the midst of the circumstance. Remember Elijah in the cave, God came to him and said to him "what are you doing here?" Then Elijah heard a strong wind coming up the hill side but God wasn't in that strong wind. Elijah sees a fire so dramatic and feels a strong earthquake shaking beneath him. God was in neither of these things but instead he was in the still small voice. God has a message specifically for you. He loves you and knows your circumstances. God sent his son to save you and he knows all about you. It is a challenge to activity. Jeremiah was called to do the only thing he could do - pray. If there is one challenge for us today it is to pray, to get back to the state we were in before. Some times we can find it difficult to pray. Paul said to the Thessalonians "pray without ceasing." To Timothy he exhorted him to "pray for all men". The church is being called back to pray and to seek the face of God. It is a personal challenge to Jeremiah and no-one else. This call is a challenge of sacrifice - having to give up something else to get alone with God. It means giving time and energy. We are in a battle today against the enemy.
The confidence that comes to the prophet - "I will answer thee". If God comes with a word from himself then listen to him. Abraham set aside his own difficulties, his age and his wife's age just to believe they would have a son. Abraham left his home not knowing where he was going. He had confidence in God, to get down before him and ask him to reveal himself to him. Jeremiah was not deterred. God could overcome the barriers. Think of Paul's thorn in the flesh. He prayed to God many times about it but God told him "my grace is sufficient for thee". Is God asking you to pray? Is he challenging you today? We have the confidence that God is there and he will help us to do it.
The claims God gave him - "I will show thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not." God is asking you to do something and he wants to show you what it is. In Daniel 2 we read of the king who couldn't sleep because of a dream he had. He gathered all his wise men and asked them to tell him his dream and the interpretation of it. They couldn't do it so the king ordered they be put to death. Daniel stepped up and asked for time. Daniel went in to the presence of God and God gave him the meaning of the dream. Daniel went back to the king and told him "there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days ... he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart." It was not for any personal glory but God's glory. What God wants to do with us today is not for our own personal glory - it is for God's glory and honour that he wants to do it.
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