Jeremiah 9:23-24

I’ve been reading a lot of the Old Testament lately. Admittedly, I more naturally gravitate to the New. My heart will always be in the Gospels. But in the Old Testament, I am finding language that gives voice to the angst and frustration I feel about our world.

Jeremiah might be my new jam.

Jeremiah is watching people all around him turn their backs on God, forsaking the ways of God’s Kingdom for the ways of the world. If you read these Old Testament texts, it seems obvious from a distance that the people are being ridiculous. Why trade a relationship with the Creator God for a relationship with a wooden idol? Why put your trust in an earthly ruler when the God of the universe has demonstrated his power to deliver you time and time again?

These stories reveal a deeply human truth about humanity: Sometimes we just can’t see beyond our own understanding.

Jeremiah repeatedly warns his peers in Judah that the road they are on will lead to their destruction, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. If you know the history of the Old Testament, eventually that devastation comes, and the people of Judah are carried off into exile.

And yet, all through these prophecies of doom, God continues to speak to those who have ears to hear him. As in this passage from Jeremiah 9, where he reminds us that he is a God who delights in kindness, justice, and righteousness. And no matter how things might go in the present moment, in the end, his way will win the day. He will be victorious.

It is a reminder to me, and I hope to you, to not boast in anything or in anyone except God alone. If we place our security and identity anywhere else, it will not end well for us. If we stay faithful to the Lord, we will share in his victory.

So while many are boasting in their own wisdom, their own strength, and their own wealth, I will boast in God alone. He is my Firm Foundation, the Rock on which I stand. I will put my trust in him alone.