Sure Thing

Passage: Jeremiah 42

I remember the first time I stuck my tongue on a piece of frozen metal.  My dad had warned me on some earlier occasion never to lick something metal if it was cold outside.  Growing up in Canada, this was a pertinent message.  There was a lot of cold metal lying around.  My dad said that, without fail, my tongue would stick to the metal and I’d lose skin when I pulled it off.  And it would hurt.  Every time.  My suffering would be inevitable.

Through the Prophet Jeremiah God warns his people of the inevitable.  They have seen the Babylonian Empire encroaching on their territory.  They are convinced that there’s no way they can stand up to the Babylonians.  So they come up with a plan.  They’ll flee to Egypt, and find solace in the shelter of another pagan superpower.  God sends a clear message: If you go to Egypt, you will die.  Does God have something specific against Egypt?  No.  What God has something against is his people’s continued adherence to a strategy that never works: looking to an earthly power for ultimate security.  God says, “If you stay put, you will see what I’m capable of.  Trust me to protect you.”  He goes on, “If you go to Egypt, you will die.  Why?  Because they can’t protect you.”  If you depend on a person, political entity, or military force to preserve your life, you will be disappointed because it will fail.  Maybe not the first time, but eventually.  Inevitably.  There’s only one sure thing, says God.  Trust in me.

So it is with us.  We persistently go back to the same people and same places for comfort, security, and reassurance.  Inevitably each of those things will fail to do what deep down we hope it will: keep pain, infirmity and death at bay.  God says, “If you seek shelter in that thing, you’ll die.”  What’s the alternative?  To find our shelter and solace in the one who faced death and won.  The God who promised to deliver Israel if they’d just listen; the God who came to us in person to deliver on his promise.  Our one sure thing.  Remain in him; he will build you up; he will deliver you not only from the momentary and fleeting troubles of this life, but from death itself.