November 11, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a driving wind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until He fully accomplishes the purposes of His heart. In days to come you will understand this.“

(Jeremiah 30.23-24)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

As I read that last line again and again (“In the days to come you will understand this.“), I am taken back to the post-resurrection stories about Jesus appearing to others and their responses. In every one of them there is the element of surprise. I guess we would be surprised, too, because the depth of our affection for Jesus could have easily blinded us the reality of what was happening. I have a feeling most all of us would have responded like Peter to Jesus’ countless times of telling them about the end to come of His life. We would have spoken loudly “No, it isn’t true!” We say the same many times in our lives even when we know “it is true.” Reality is a harsh teacher. (C.S. Lewis) And for the disciples, hearing about and contemplating the death of Jesus was more than they could bear. In the midst of all that was happening, they didn’t hear (and only later remembered) His words which John recalled in his gospel “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He.” (John 13.19) The fact is that they didn’t remember and they didn’t fully believe. When Jesus appeared to many following His death and resurrection, they were surprised. They would remember, however, as His appearance to them in real time spurred their memories of all He had said and done leading them to where they were in that moment. What was that moment? It was the moment when the promise of God was confirmed. They were experiencing that “It is He!” reality.

This would have been the same for the Jerusalem exiles in their day. God had revealed all the things that would happen. They wouldn’t remember it all because their current situation was so filled with hopelessness. They wanted to be home so much that they were forgetting what got them into exile in the first place. That also skewed their understanding of God and God’s will. Not accepting accountability for their actions put them in a place of compromised faith and religion. I think that is why God removed the leadership (at least most of it) from Jerusalem. He was putting them in a place where they had to become objective and see things have consequences they couldn’t change. Even if God wanted to remove them from the terrible situation, He couldn’t. They made the choice for God to do what He had to do. God did it in love and with the hope that they would remember who they were and whose they were. When the world would finally fall away like the scales from Paul’s eyes after “seeing” the resurrected and glorified Jesus, then the truth would be visible to them even when things remained difficult.

That visibility is “Immanuel,” God with us. It is the message of all the prophets for Israel and to the world (if the world would listen). It is also the message of the gospels as the promise was being fulfilled. That fulfillment we know was and is Jesus Christ. He is the vision of God’s love made real. His life was the physical demonstration of the very “person” of God. Consider this: it is one thing to say “I love you” and totally another when “I love you” is acted out and acted upon. God had been active in the course of Israel from the very beginning. Adam and Eve had it best because they actually had God walking and abiding with them. Apparently it wasn’t enough because they still sinned. I am still not sure how that happened but it did. It still happens today even when we know that Jesus walked on earth. He continues to walk among us today because of the words He left to prepare for His arrival in our lives. He arrives in “spirit and in truth.” The gospels are the evidence of the promise fulfilled for our salvation. They are preparing us for the full completion of the promise to “…be with you always.” Mighty ones of God, we have to keep our eyes of faith wide open and not be surprised when God reveals Himself to us in opportunity to receive and to share. That is what God told the Jerusalem exiles to do for seventy years. They were to practice His presence for seventy years. They wouldn’t be perfect but they would be better prepared to represent God back home in Jerusalem when they returned. They returned as surely as Christ will return, just as He said. “I AM going away now to prepare a place for you and if I am going away to do so, know that I am coming back to take you where I am going. And you know the way I am going.” They didn’t really remember, even when Jesus made it simple saying “I AM the way, the truth and the life.” But they would. Resurrection made it clearer and it still does today. Be prepared today to “go home” by being at home where you are now. Don’t forget!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.