A word today about promises too good to be true – and I hope we discover a trunk-full before we’re done . . .
In the passage from Jeremiah that spoke to us of the Lord’s promise that He would be our God, that we should be His people, that He will give us one heart and one way that we may fear Him forever … whew! … that is SO MUCH, such a vast and a far-reaching assurance!
Fabergé – Limoges – Rosenthal – Swarovsky – and Mary Englebreit! Nobody and nothing on earth is ornamented like that!
… but did you notice?
They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. (Jeremiah 32:38 and 39)
For our good, and THE GOOD OF OUR CHILDREN AFTER US! Is it possible that too many of us have either prided ourselves on our parenting (as long as it seemed to be working!) or threw ourselves into deepest despair when it seemed to have failed?
Let’s neither take too much nor too little upon ourselves. When God makes promises regarding our children, let us seize upon them, hold them fast, never let them go, and battle accordingly! We know we cannot “save” our children … oh, deepest despair when they are troubled or unbelieving!! … but do we know that what has been given to us by the Lord is guarded by Him with more jealousy, with far greater strength, than by us?
There’s more . . .
I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.
(verses 40, 41)
Honestly, and from my experience, I don’t think a lot of us really believe all of this.
It’s still early in our Advent Adventure for 2017 … supposing we irradiate our hopes regarding our children and go on to even more deep and true and glorious things concerning the Lord and His faithfulness? Let us suppose that what God has given, He is able to sustain.
Look at Jesus’ words as He prepared to enter into His suffering and death.
I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. (John 17:11, 12 NASB)
We kept our children while they were with us. We kept them in the Name of the Lord and guarded them. We gave them the Word of the Lord. And if we didn’t know to do that when they were with us, if we came late to faith, today is the day of salvation and we give them to God now, for they really are ours to give in a parental reality. They are our children. Possessive pronoun.
Truly, “all our children shall be taught of the Lord, and great will be their peace,” (Isaiah 54:13.) Should they stumble (as did King David,) should they doubt (as did Thomas,) should they renounce truth (as did Peter,) they have someone trusting the Father on their behalf more than they are distrustful, confused, wounded, or frightened. They have us, and we have the Spirit of the Lord in the glory of Christ Jesus, Savior and King.
Merry Christmas, everyone! Blessed are they that have believed all that the Lord has spoken to them.
Ernest F, by permission, Wikipedia
Newborn Infant … (and was there ever any decoration anywhere, more spectacular?)
Marketplace Monastics 