My Friend Jerry - Part 4

Back to my friend Jeremiah the Old Testament prophet...

Jerry’s life makes for a good story.

His character adds depth to the story.

But the whole story of my friend Jerry is more about God than Jeremiah’s life or his character.

Every story in the Bible is about God. He is the hero of each one. His life and his character are what matters.

Jerry’s God, the only God, desires a personal relationship with each of his children.

God brings exile for a purpose -- to ask for our obedience. He tells the people of Israel, through Jeremiah, to make the best of what they have. He asks them to plant gardens, build homes, marry, and have children while in exile. That goes against our mindset of waiting until our circumstances change before investing in the “good stuff” of life. While Jerry was in prison, God told him to buy a field in enemy territory. It made no sense to anybody else. But God was making a point: "This will be your home again, sometime. Invest in your life now -- where you are at -- up against everything you are up against.

Do you hear that? Invest what you have now!

It get’s REALLY personal at this point. Aren't we all are holding back something or hiding in some way from God and from someone we know we should engage more fully?

*God himself, like Jeremiah, endured humiliation
(Phil 2:5-11 - the sacrifice and the resurrection power)

*God is our hope… Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection!
Jerry’s story, like every human’s in the Bible, simply points us to Jesus and our need for him.

*God is with us
Jer 29:12-13:
"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Jer 31:3-4:
"The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt... Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful."

God is with us!

Jeremiah later prays about all that he is thankful for, and he makes the point that nothing is too hard for God.

Nothing is too hard for God -- even sending his son to earth to live and die for us -- each of us. Talk about loneliness! Can you even imagine that moment when Jesus cries out to Father God, “Why have you forsaken me?” and God -- for the sake of each of us -- must allow his son to die.

Nothing is too hard for God. Not even your loneliness. That’s why Jesus came, endured humiliation, and made the sacrifice he did.

Exile of Israel more than 2,500 years ago, my personal exile, your exiled times -- all of it is part of God’s biggest story of victory. He is all about creating and re-creating (God creates, God judges evil, God saves and restores, and God re-creates).

We can endure suffering with God’s grace. God redeems suffering through grace -- that’s Jesus’ story and the only one that matters.

God promised Jeremiah repeatedly -- “I am with you. I will rescue you. I will not let you fail or be overcome by your enemies.”

He means that!

There is no storybook happy ending for Jeremiah, but his life was lived fully. It was rich. He knew God deeply. He honored God and was honored by God. His was a story worth telling and worth living.

But what if you are stuck in a lonely, muddy pit today?

God wants to hear your heart cry -- your story. He wants to use and transform your hardships and heartaches.