(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“The message that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ‘You said, “Woe is me now! For Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain! I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.”’ “You shall tell him, Yahweh says: ‘Behold, that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land. Do you seek great things for yourself? Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh,’ says Yahweh, ‘but I will let you escape with your life wherever you go.’””
(Jeremiah 45:1-5)
“How long, Yahweh?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
having sorrow in my heart every day?
How long shall my enemy triumph over me?
Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God.
Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him;”
lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your loving kindness.
My heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to Yahweh,
because he has been good to me.”
(Psalm 13)
It is said by the sages that Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary/disciple, cried out because he had not been given the gift of prophecy as the disciples of Elisha. But God immediately turns his attention to the incredible blessing that he HAD been given. It isn’t about the gifts we don’t have. It isn’t about what we might like to do. It’s always about what we have when we walk with the Lord. In the time of judgment, upheaval, and foolish decisions by people, Baruch had been given the blessing that no matter where he went, where he was taken, or where he travelled, he was protected. He was protected by God no matter what. Gifts are to be sought, there’s nothing wrong with that, but we need to never lose sight of the gift of God’s protecting presence that we have.
God’s gifts to us are incredible and should always be a source of thanksgiving and praise. His goodness. His mercy. His blessing. The truth that we can rely on Him. That we can trust in Him. That He will never EVER drop the ball. We won’t be abandoned. We won’t be left alone. We won’t be looked over. We won’t be put aside. We will always have everything that we need. We have His protection. We have His love. We have His instruction and His correction. He is a magnificent God and He is SO good to us. When the situations of the world SEEM to have us backed against a wall or locked in a dark alley, we can turn our eyes to Him and see that His hand is in ours. He hasn’t moved. He hasn’t gone quiet. He is there for us. He will always be there for us. We are BLESSED to be His.
Summary
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of what we don’t have. The gifts we don’t operate in. The role we don’t inhabit. It’s easy to take offense at how things are run and decide that we know best. But all of that is a fool’s game. We are all different and we have all been given different gifts (1 Corinthians 12). It isn’t a bad thing to desire gifts and roles. It isn’t a bad thing to have ideas. But we need to focus on what we DO have. The very real blessing of our very real God right here, right now, right beside us. If our focus is on Him and our relationship with Him, the rest won’t take up our thinking. We won’t end up in envy or strife. Because God will always take us to where we need to go and will always equip us with what we need to operate there. He is a GOOD God and He never lets us down. Focus on your thanksgiving for Him and what He has given, and the rest will shrink away. True satisfaction is always found in only one place: our relationship with God.
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