Times Like These

July 29, 2004

Jeremiah’s time was much like today. Wars were going on all around, threats of attack, political strife. Just like today. Of course, Jeremiah’s job was to say what God told him to say. He predicts the downfall of kings, the carrying off of Judah into captivity, and the destruction of Jerusalem. Needless to say, he was about as popular as a lightning rod in a thunderstorm.

We’re living in a desert now and Santa Fe has had a 7 year drought. We’re grateful for the thunderstorms and rainfall when they come. Reading Jeremiah, you will eventually come to Chapter 17, Verses 7-8. It reads:

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

In the end Jeremiah was God’s man. Politically he was lamentable. But what he knew was to send out roots into the stream of God’s goodness. Now that’s a message we can hear, drought or no drought.