Lent - His Love EnduresSample

The words of Jeremiah chapters 46–48 detail a destruction story, one where we find despair in almost every verse, leaving us to wonder if hope for humanity is even possible. Can God possibly heal this?

The people of Egypt “are terrified, they are retreating… terror is on every side!” (Jeremiah 46:5). The Philistines “will cry out, and every inhabitant will wail… they will be utterly helpless” (Jeremiah 47:2–3). The Moabites “will be shattered; her little ones will cry out” (Jeremiah 48:4). Darkness had fully overtaken these countries, and we learn why: because they trusted in their “work and treasures” (Jeremiah 48:7). And yet, for those who put their trust in God, there is a light that rises up. In the middle of the dark, destruction, and despair, we see that God has never left the side of those who call Him Lord.

No one in humanity is spared; death will reach each and everyone of us. At some point, whether Israelite or Egyptian, Christian or non-Christian, the walls of our lives, our cities, our possessions will come crashing down. But for those who do put their hope in God, we are not to be afraid because He promises to be with us (Jeremiah 46:27–28). Our hope does not lie in circumstances, works, or treasures; therefore, we have nothing to fear.

“Do not be afraid.” These words have held me in some of my deepest moments of grief and pain. He was with me. This is the promise we have when we give our lives to Jesus. When we choose to follow God, when we accept Jesus’s death for us as atonement for our sins, and when we seek to follow Him each and every day, then even when terror and wailing come, we have hope.

So He’s shown me the answer to my question is, yes, God can heal even this, whatever this may be. And so it is within these passages from Jeremiah: Yes, God can heal this too. Therefore, we stand in confidence, and in all things remember that, “As for man, his days are like grass… But from eternity to eternity, the LORD’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:15,17).