“has God saying “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
~ Jeremiah 24:7
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you sometimes wonder if God knows what He is doing on planet Earth? Do you sometimes wonder if God cares about what is taking place on planet Earth? Do you sometimes wonder if God is listening to what guys, gals and kids who are living on planet Earth are asking Him to do or are thanking Him for having heard them? What is oftentimes forgotten about God is that God is the consummate life coach Who is single-mindedly molding and enabling His specially elected guys, gals and kids – who He chose before He created planet Earth to be His adopted kids, sometimes through really stomach wrenching, heartbreaking life lessons to be His faithful servant followers.
God’s way is often not your way. If guy, gal or kid is given the choice of what to do, he or she will invariably choose the easiest of the choices. The option that God sometimes puts on the table that He will have a guy, gal or kid do will at times have the guy, gal or kid doing something that he or she has very little desire to do but . . . because God is omniscient – as He has complete knowledge, God knows what the unfolding big picture looks like and what the role is that He has created for each guy, gal or kid to play in in His unfolding big picture. Each role that God has for each guy, gal and kid to live out on planet Earth, He is unfolding always in a big picture way and is almost never played alone – that almost every life scene will have other guys, gals and/or kids in the scene. Even though your grandmaa and grandpaa really wanted to say no to having their names being included on a list for taking over the Canadian South America Mission Executive Director position, your grandmaa and grandpaa could not come up with a good reason to say no so . . . your grandmaa and grandpaa were really hoping that they would not be selected by the Canadian South American Mission Board of Directors over the other two couples who had let their names stand to be the Canadian South America Mission Executive Director. But – in July of 1992, your grandmaa and grandpaa were on the road heading north from Lantana, Florida – where they had really enjoyed living, to Guelph, Ontario to take on the office responsibilities of being the directors of Canadian South America Mission.
After Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian people group’s army overran the land of Judah and after the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem had been breached by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian people group’s army, some of the guys, gals and kids who were living in the city of Jerusalem had their Babylonian victors made them make the long, arduous walk to their country while other guys, gals and kids were left in the city of Jerusalem to fend for themselves under Zedekiah’s imprudent leadership. If you had been a kid living in the city of Jerusalem at the time when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian people group’s army, would you have rather been left behind to stay living in your house in the city of Jerusalem or would you have rather been like the kids who were taken to the country of Babylonia to be exiled there with their dad and/or ma? Your grandpaa thinks that Jehoiachim along with many of the officials, craftsmen and artisans who were living in the land of Judah that includes the city of Jerusalem would really have preferred to have been allowed to remain in the city of Jerusalem with a guy like Zedekiah instead of having to make the lengthy, exhausting trek to the country of Babylonia to live as exiles. God gave Jeremiah – who was an outspoken prophet spokesman at the time when God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids who were living in the land of Judah that included the city of Jerusalem were taken away by the Babylonian people group’s army to the county of Babylonia as exiles, a dream. Jeremiah wrote about this dream in Jeremiah 24. Jeremiah saw two baskets of figs in his dream. One of the baskets was filled with new figs while the other basket was filled with poor figs. God explained to Jeremiah in the dream that He was having him have that the new basket of figs was symbolic of His specially chosen guys, gals and kids who had been exiled to the country of Babylonia. Verse 7 has God saying “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” God also explained to Jeremiah in the dream that the basket of poor figs was symbolic of Zedekiah, Zedekiah’s officials and the guys, gals and kids who were left behind in the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonian people group’s army – that He was going to make these guys, gals and kids abhorrent, a reproach, a byword and an object of ridicule to other guys, gals and kids. The guys, gals and kids who had been exiled to the country of Babylonia would be the guys, gals and kid who would receive God’s special blessings while the guys, gals and kids who got to stay in their homes in the city of Jerusalem would end up being killed or dying from a famine or plague. The chance to get to know God’s mercy will oftentimes take place through extremely hard, difficult times while getting to know God’s mercy in a status quo environment will probably not happen. To build a trusting relationship, God fills up the life of each guy, gal and kid with demanding, diverse life lessons to build up trust in Him – which He has clearly promised that He will do for each guy, gal and kid who He edopted. When you find yourselves in a problematic, knotty life test, you are in God’s new fig basket.
Jeremiah 24 (959)