Covered by the Mud

So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard… There was no water in the cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it.

Jeremiah 38:6

Here was a nasty business for Jeremiah that we can all relate to. A scene from the 1987 motion picture The Princess Bride comes to mind, when Princess Buttercup sinks into quicksand in the Fire Swamp. Sometimes life suddenly turns to mush all around us and we have nothing to hold onto to gather our bearings. In such times we must remember that even there our Lord is with us. Even there in the mud we are covered by the blood of Christ and loved greatly by highest heaven. We will not always be sinking; soon enough our Savior, like the hero Westley, will bring us out and place our feet on solid ground again.

Cloudy With a Chance of Encouragement

The medieval poet Dante described the Bible thusly:

The downpour of the Holy Spirit that is diffused on the Old vellum, as well as the New

So, more than a chance! More like a 100% guarantee of cheering gospel truths for weary, parched souls. When the clouds of despair settle over us, or when the threatening storms of conviction lay upon our hearts, let us drink freely from this scrollerific wellspring that the good Lord has sent for poor sinners who know their need of his mercy and grace.

Winged God

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1

This is one of the rawest verses in the Psalms. We are pictured as eaglets finding refuge under divine wings. How do we do this? The next verse is handy:

I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

So it’s the same old story, namely, it is by faith! We dwell and abide by trusting him as our God. Faith requires boldness, boldness enough to say the true and living Almighty is my protector God and I will treat him as such by relying on him utterly. We can flee to our amazing Creator for safety today and always. Let’s say it together now:

My God, in whom I trust.

It Is Real

Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people…

Jeremiah 30:2–3

Jeremiah was a prophet before he was a scribe. The reason God told him to write down what he preached is because it was relevant for the distant future. In that distant future, the promised Messiah appeared, ate and drank among his people, preached the kingdom, suffered and died for sin, rose again, ascended to heaven, sent his Spirit upon all peoples, and commissioned his church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Since then, God has been restoring the fortunes of his people nonstop. The true children of Abraham have been made alive with Christ in these last days. And they, both Jew and Gentile, will continue to come alive in the great restoration of humanity through the God-Man Jesus Christ, until he appears a second time, to save us forevermore.

Get in on this. You don’t want to miss out.

The Reformed Doctrine of Knowing What Time It Is

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:23–24

So knowing God is the ultimate thing. This knowledge is relational and doctrinal. We have to know what God is like in order to walk with him. How can two go together lest they agree? Knowing God means trusting him to be who he is and do what he loves to do. And what’s that? Well, he’s the Almighty who loves to take care of his people in a crazy world.

Let’s trust him to be him today so that we can enjoy being his beloved children now.

Wise Dome

The wise men…have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?

Jeremiah 8:9

It’s a wrap after that. God’s word is our light of understanding; without it we are in the dark. We can know a lot of things without the Scriptures, but apart from them we can understand nothing as it truly is. The real context of everything is God. So let’s store up his word in our hearts and become wiser than wise men.

We Go Way Back

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.

Jeremiah 1:5

Our deepest desire is to be known and loved for who we are. Sin has fractured our human relationships with misunderstanding and distrust, not to mention wicked hostilities. This can make our existence sad and lonely, or even bitter.

This desire of ours can only be fully met by God. Only he who made us can know and love us completely. He is intimately acquainted with all our ways, right down to the depths of our souls. He knows our pains, fears, and joys.

Let’s rejoice that in Christ we are known and loved forever by the One who made us just who we are. And through the healing power of the gospel, we can begin to know and love one another as well.

Morning Star

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

Revelation 22:16

Venus now hangs in the morning sky. She is our near neighbor in the heavens. As she gathers and sends the sun’s brilliant beams our way, she announces to us the coming of dawn.

Such is Christ’s appearance. He has announced to us the coming of the kingdom of heaven. And those who are now looking to him by faith are preparing for the great and terrible sunrise of God.

The More the Merrier

I will gather yet others to him, besides those already gathered.

Isaiah 56:8

God always said he was going to do it. He was bringing all the world into his kingdom. Well it’s global now, but he’s still at it. He’s filling in the corners of heaven, like the merry hobbits who snacked late into Bilbo Baggins’ 111th birthday party.

Spurgeon once prayed that God would save his elect and then elect some more. Pretty funny, but that’s pretty much it. We cannot possibly fathom all that the Lord has in store. From our perspective, the possibilities are endless. Let’s live with this mindset and pray that the Lord of the harvest uses us to gather yet others to him.

The Reformed Doctrine of Dante

I’ve been reading The Divine Comedy. It’s not as funny as I expected, but it’s been a fascinating voyage so far. We are currently ascending Mount Purgatory. Although Dante was devoutly Roman Catholic, I think he had that Reformer dog in him. For instance, he does not hesitate to place popes in the Inferno. Even Luther could dig that.

But what about purgatory? Dante believed the fiction that suffering after death awaits those who are alive in Christ. Perish the thought! Praise the Lord that today—if today be my day to die—that I too shall be in Paradise with him who died and rose again for me.

Having said that, I think Dante’s Mount may be climbed with profit by those who believe and know the truth. The truth in this case is that the present life, not the life to come, is where we work out our salvation with fear and trembling and unalive our sins. It is here and now where we wage war by the power of the Truth. Consider, then, this gospel gem Dante speaks to weary pilgrims along the way:

May grace quickly dissipate the froth of your conscience in order that the stream of the mind may descend clearly thorough it.

When our conscience is disturbed, our thinking is muddled like troubled waters. There can be misty seasons of wrestling with sin and temptation for the believer. But let’s remember that it is God’s grace, and his grace alone, which cleanses our conscience and sets our mind at liberty. Let’s draw from the wells of salvation with joy, always drinking the sweet waters that help us to see clearly on our way Home.