“I am with you and will save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”’
~ Jeremiah 30:11
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever been in a predicament that was scary to be in but you just knew that everything would work out okay in the end? Your grandmaa and grandpaa sometimes found themselves in scary predicaments while they were traveling to different places in Bolivia but where everything worked out okay in the end for them. During one of the trips that your grandmaa and grandpaa were making back to Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez from Santa Cruz, guys who were living in a community near the road that your grandmaa and grandpaa had to use to get back to Concepión from Santa Cruz had set up a roadblock using tree limbs, tree trunks, rocks, etc. that stopped your grandmaa and grandpaa from being able to go any further down the road. The road that your grandmaa and grandpaa had to use to get to Concepión from Santa Cruz had been blocked off by guys who were living in the community near this road because they were angry with the Bolivian government for not doing what the Bolivian government had said that they would do for them. The guys wanted to get the Bolivian government’s attention by blocking the only road between Concepción and the Rio Grande. Rio Grande in Spanish means big river. When your grandmaa and grandpaa got to where guys had completely blocked the road with tree limbs, tree trunks, rocks, etc. and after your grandpaa had checked out what was happening, your grandmaa and grandpaa decided to wait hoping that the guys who had completely blocked the road would ultimately let them through. After a couple of hours of waiting, a couple of guys suddenly came running down the road to where your grandmaa and grandpaa were parked in their pickup to tell your grandmaa and grandpaa that they were going to get caught between two roadblocks as . . .
What would you have done if you had been your grandmaa and grandpaa and if you were told that you were going to get caught between two roadblocks if . . . your grandpaa quickly turned around the C-10 Chevrolet pickup that your grandmaa and grandpaa owned and began heading back to Santa Cruz. Your grandmaa and grandpaa had to cross the Rio Grande to get back to Santa Cruz. The only way to get from one side of the Rio Grande to the other side was by small flat bottomed boats. Your grandpaa had to drive the white C-10 pickup that he and your grandmaa owned into one of the flat bottomed boats. After your grandpaa would drive the white C-10 Chevrolet pickup that he and your grandmaa owned on one of these small boats, a couple of guys would push and pole and pull their small boat across the Rio Grande to the other side. By the time that your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived at the Rio Grande after having been stopped by guys who had blocked the road that your grandmaa and grandpaa had to use to get to Concepción, it was pitch black dark. The only sounds that your grandmaa and grandpaa heard that night while a couple of guys pushed and poled and pulled their small boat across the Rio Grande, were the sounds of the river and of the guys moving about in the water. Your grandmaa and grandpaa will never forget how dark that night was and how full the sky was that night with stars. Your grandmaa and grandpaa sensed that night while in the middle of a fast moving river that they were in God’s hands having been protected by God instead having been trapped between a couple of roadblocks and having some very angry guys around them not caring what they did,
Jeremiah lived about 2600 years ago. Jeremiah was a prophet. God used Jeremiah as His spokesman to His specially chosen guys and gals who lived in the city of Jerusalem and in Judah’s land area. Jeremiah became one of God’s greatest prophets. God gave Jeremiah visions, oracles, sermons, etc. which Jeremiah edited into a book that was given his name. Jeremiah 30 begins a book inside a book. This book is made up of four chapters. This book is called the ‘book of consolation’. Jeremiah wrote as a poem almost all of what is the ‘book of consolation’. Jeremiah knew because God – as God the Spirit, told him what was ahead for God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem and in Judah’s land area. Jeremiah knew because God’s specially chosen guys and gals were refusing to be obedient to God’s will, that God would have His specially chosen guys and gals taken away as exiles by an enemy army. Jeremiah also knew that after God would have His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem and in Judah’s land area exiled, that God would have His specially chosen guys and gals return to the land that He had promised them that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . Jeremiah in verse 11 tells God’s specially chosen guys and gals, “I am with you and will save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”’ A day or so after your grandmaa and grandpaa were almost caught between a couple of roadblocks, a couple of guys tried to drive a tree trunk moving machine through the roadblocks. As these guys tried to drive the tree trunk moving machine through the roadblocks, they shot at the guys who were trying to stop them. They killed a number of the guys who were trying to stop them. Other guys who were trying to stop the guys in the tree trunk moving machine were able to pull the two guys out of the tree trunk moving machine and they beat the two guys to death. When your grandmaa and grandpaa heard what had happened, your grandmaa and grandpaa were really glad that they had decided to go back to Santa Cruz. When you are in predicament that is scary to be in, what should you do? If you trust God to help you in a predicament – as Jeremiah always did, God will clearly point the way how you can get out of the predicament.
Jeremiah 30 (288)