5 Verses That Got My Attention

I have to be really honest today. I'm worn out! I'm tired of staying in my house and having little to no variation in my schedule. Now, ask anyone, I'm a homebody. I don't mind being home, but I don't particularly like having to stay home because I'm told to. A little bit of my rebellious human nature is creeping out of me today. I want to do what I want to do. Can anyone relate? I'm not going to go anywhere though, because the crisis at hand dictates that I shelter in place. Whether I want to do what I want to do, or not, for the good of others, I stay put. This has a negative spin to start, but we aren't going to stay here! I started my morning on a positive note when I read Jeremiah 45, and I hope to end it on one as well.

Please turn to Jeremiah 45 in your Bible, I want to show you something. Jeremiah 45 is a short 5 verses, but they are profound. The word of the Lord has come through Jeremiah spoken to Baruch the son of Neriah. This isn't the first time in the book of Jeremiah where Baruch son of Neriah has been mentioned. Back in chapter 36 Jeremiah dictates the words the Lord speaks, Baruch writes them down, and shares them with the people. Mind you, the people don't listen, they are set on going their own way and doing their own thing. Even before that, in chapter 32, he is serving as a helper to Jeremiah. I digress. Baruch is a friend to Jeremiah. He's been with him for a while, serving as he's needed. He's taken a lot of heat, just as Jeremiah has. They are both delivering God's word to a people who don't want to hear it. Honestly, many of the words they speak they don't want to hear themselves. There is calamity everywhere they look, and God just keeps piling on, because the people won't repent and turn from their evil ways.

Baruch must be at the end of his rope, as I fear many of us are right now. "'O Baruch: You said, "Ah, woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and have found no rest."'" (Jeremiah 45:3 NASB) Can you relate? Woe is me! Baruch's world is crumbling around him. Many of us feel that way too, right now. Our health may be failing. Our income may be cut short or non-existent. Our freedom feels curtailed. Our social life may have vanished. Do you know what most of my goals centered on this year? Having more fun and making better relationships. Ha! Woe is me!

The next verse isn't altogether encouraging either for God says that it is about to get worse. Read verse 4. God is about to uproot the whole land! The people have already been defeated and taken as captives - multiple times. Now God is going to uproot the whole land that He gave them. They were defeated, taken captive, on the run, and now their land will be uprooted. You know the phrase...sometimes things go from bad to worse. A virus is bad, very bad, economic upheaval is worse, and death from a virus is even worse. We are there, my friends, we are in the midst of worse.

But verse 5 brings light to the situation, at least for Baruch, and I believe for us.

‘But you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am going to bring disaster on all flesh,’ declares the LORD, ‘but I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you may go.’” (NASB, emphasis mine)

God says, He will give life to Baruch as booty. Now, that is a weird word for us, right? Booty makes me think of pirates, I don't know about you. There are two main definitions of "booty": 1) valuable stolen goods especially as in time of war and 2) something gained or won. The New King James Version inserts the word prize here. Your life is a prize. The New International Version says that God will allow him to escape with his life. Any way you slice it, God is giving Baruch a gift - the gift of life. By using this word, I think it also gives us the sense of the war that Baruch was in the midst of fighting. He was delivering God's word to a people who didn't want to hear it, and had no intention of following it.

There are some discouraging things going on in our world right now. We feel them. We read it in the news or watch it on the news. We are likely working on initiatives at work that have us focused on this virus and all that it means. We are cleaning everything. Sanitizing items we never thought we would. We are wearing masks in public to protect others from our germs. Our hair is getting long and gray. Our routines are past the point of boring. Our culinary skills have reached their limits (maybe that's just me). We want to shut it all out, and wake up from what feels like the worst dream possible.

But God has called us to something more. Yes, the world around us may be uprooted. Yes, we may be worn out and at the end of our rope. However, we have a prize! We have life! Better yet, we have eternal life if we belong to Jesus! Death will not have any hold on us. We echo Paul's words in Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." God will take us on journeys just as he promised Baruch. He said that Baruch would have life in all the places where he may go. I believe we can cling to that promise as well. God told us that He would not leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). Sometimes bad things happen to us and around us. God is still with us, and He still sustains life in the midst of it all.

So, what do we do with this passage? All hope is not lost! We have the prize of life. We can cling to the hope of Jesus and to God's promises that we will be with Him if we follow Jesus. I hope and pray that you can fix your eyes on Him. There will be discouraging days, like I'm having today. There will also be awesome days, when there is light at the end of the tunnel and life is back to "normal". Just remember, though, God is with you now in the darkness just as He is in the light. My prayer is that you will look back on this time and remember how He was there for you and with you. And how He used "booty" in Scripture - for real!

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