(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
What does God want for you?
Intro:
God wants you to be happy, right? Maybe wealthy? Ok, not wealthy, but not poor, either…after all, there are all those verses about taking care of poor people. Ah, but surely God wants me to meet a soulmate…I mean, you just read the first couple chapters and there’s that whole sex-is-good and go-forth-and-multiple stuff. And justice…social justice and the environment and getting that windbag out of the White House and finding myself with a personality test so I can be all I can be…for Him, of course.
Today’s focus question, What does God want for you?, could be a whole book unto itself. But today we’re going to examine it in light of our OT and NT segments, because it’s a message of hope — and more. More importantly, it’s a good reminder of truth in a world where almost-truth abounds, and it’s always profitable to focus for a moment on the thing that should make your heart sing.
New Testament segment:
Passage: John 10
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 42
Words: ~902
Old Testament segment:
Recall that yesterday the final words of Jeremiah 51 were “The words of Jeremiah end here.” So…what we now know of as chapter 52 were added by someone else, maybe his scribe Baruch, and are probably included to show that the prophecies actually happened, particularly of the fall of Jerusalem.
Passage: Jeremiah 52
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 34
Words: ~1008
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Proverbs 17:21-18:9
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 16
Words: ~254
The bottom line:
As we wrap up Jeremiah, let’s zoom the camera angle out. God clearly demonstrates his sovereignty, even in the face of what seem to us to be impossible odds, and who else has the capability of predicting the future with 100% certainty? We saw plenty of that. But we also see that he wants our obedience and justice and piety at a heart level — that theological tradition and worship mean jack diddly. But then He shows that he can change sides politically to discipline His covenant people.(1) That should make us stop and think.
Jeremiah affirmed that God’s ultimate plan was to bless His people (29:11). God’s plans, however, are conditional on human response (18:7–10). Persistent rebellion can bring punishment when God had promised blessing. Repentance can avert disaster when God had promised judgment.
Jeremiah affirms the faithlessness of God’s people and their need for God to intervene to save them. Jeremiah anticipates a time when God would write a new covenant on His people’s hearts, when God would be known in intimate fellowship, when God would no longer remember their sins (31:31–34). Jeremiah’s hopes find fulfillment in the new relationship with God made possible through Christ’s death (Heb 11:12–22).(1)
Yesterday we looked at spiritual blindness and saw (pun fully intended) that it might be the inability to see, but it’s also may be unwillingness to see. And as we heard at the end of John 10 today, “Many came to him and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true” (Jn 10:41, CSB).
So in hopes that we maybe quit looking for signs, and instead see the goodness and abundant life and beauty that God wants for us as He’s revealed to us in His Son and the whole of Scripture, let me leave you with a little aphorism that sums it all up:
We're saved from God (not ourselves), by God (not ourselves), and for God (not ourselves).(2)
Love you!
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) David S. Dockery, ed., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 426.
(2) As articulated by Sam Allberry on Twitter, https://twitter.com/SamAllberry/status/1310194517660831745.