Jeremiah 32:21-25 – Trusting God absolutely

We are still reflecting on a page of Jeremiah’s prayer which began in verse 16 of chapter 32 of his book. His prayer to God started with, “Ah Lord God” an exclamation of bewilderment before moving on to praise God for His power in creation. Throughout his prayer, he brought up many of God’s wonderful attributes. God’s mercy, lovingkindness, wisdom, and justice were all highlighted. He also showed God’s immutable qualities such as His omniscience, saying in verse 19 that God’s “…eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men….” And he also underscored God’s omnipotence, His great power in delivering with signs and wonders. He did it in Egypt to deliver Israel, His people, and had continued to do so to this day among mankind. What Jeremiah said of God in his prayer was authenticated through the history of His dealings both with His covenant people and mankind. They were not merely ideas that he conjured up without basis. His prayer rested objectively on what God had done.

God’s mighty deliverance of Israel from the hand of Egypt described in verses 21-22 reveals God’s faithfulness. He kept his promise and mightily delivered His people and brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey, the promise that he swore to their forefathers. As Jeremiah praise God for all His wonderful and loving overtures, he could not get away from the people’s unfaithfulness. They did not obey God. This was an honest confession. God fulfilled His part He gave them the land, but they chose to disobey His clear instructions. Their successive blatant disregard for God had led to all the present calamity that they were experiencing at the hand of Babylon.

In verses 24-25, Jeremiah went on to have a frank conversation with God. He could see that in a short while Jerusalem would be taken by the Chaldeans. Their siege of the city was obvious. Their ramps surrounding the city were visible. All the while, God could see what was happening. God saw the sword, the pestilence, and famine. Yet God instructed him to buy the land from his cousin. Here Jeremiah was pondering the instruction and wondered what God’s reason for the instruction could be. This is an indication of true obedience. Though Jeremiah did not fully know the why, he unconditionally acted on the instruction.

Firstly, we learn that true prayer often includes times of confession. There won’t be smoke if there’s no fire. If we don’t deal with the fire, we will have to live with the smoke. Confession is identifying the cause of the fire. And the common cause of fire in our lives is disobedience. It is not taking God at His Word and acting upon it. Here we sense the call of God for us to take Him at His word and act on it. As Hebrews 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Secondly, we learn to obey God absolutely, even when we cannot yet see the reason behind it all. When we obey do so with gladness. It is not alright to obey and then live grudgingly all the rest of our life. It is perfectly okay to seek answers when in doubt. God will not fault us for asking questions to clear our doubts. Always remember that our revelation in life is progressive. Whatever God has revealed obey immediately. Whatever we don’t understand seek God and continue to trust. True faith in God is to trust Him when we can see the reason and trust Him even when we can’t yet see the reason. While faith seeks understanding, trusting God must be absolute. We will understand it at the right time.