When I was a kid, our church hosted a Bible conference. The guest preacher taught us a chorus that came straight from Scripture. The lyrics were based word-for-word on Jeremiah 33:3 in the King James Version (KJV):
Call unto me,
and I will answer thee,
and shew thee great & mighty things
which thou knowest not.
The Lord uttered these words to Jeremiah when he was in prison for preaching God’s Word to his wayward people. Jerusalem was under attack by the armies of Babylon, and Jeremiah prophesied that God was going to give the city into their hands. This made King Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem upset, so the king put Jeremiah in jail (see Jer. 32:1-5).
Pretty dismal circumstances, right? Yet God promised Jeremiah that better days were coming! In fact, God had Jeremiah buy a field from his cousin to show that God intended to bring his people back to their own land after a specified time of captivity in Babylon.
After making this purchase, Jeremiah prayed for further understanding. He began by saying, “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you” (Jer. 32:17).
How many of our prayers start this way? Jeremiah went on to extol God’s steadfast love, his infinite power, his great counsel & wisdom. He recounted God’s mighty deeds in the past for his people, despite their disobedience and deserved punishment from God.
But now Jeremiah wanted to know more. Why did God have him purchase a field, and how exactly did this fit into God’s plan for his people?
God responded to Jeremiah by giving him greater insight about what was to come. Things would get worse before they’d get better. But then they would be better than Jeremiah could have ever imagined. The Lord was going to institute a new, everlasting covenant for his people whereby he would “not turn away from doing good to them” (Jer. 32:40). God said, “I will rejoice in doing them good … with all my heart and all my soul” (Jer. 32:41).
That’s the note on which Jeremiah 33 begins. The “chorus” I quoted up top is prefaced with this statement:
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it — the Lord is his name . . .”
God had already showed Jeremiah wonderful things about what was to come, but God came to him again, wanting to show him even more!
God wants to do the same with us. In fact, Paul writes in Ephesians 2 that God saved us “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace & kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). But God also wants us to experience a measure of this now. So Paul says, “I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him” (Eph. 1:19).
Everything God wants us to know has already been written in the Scriptures (Deut. 29:29), but God wants us to know the reality of his greatness in an intensely personal, experiential way.
While most of us are not in prison with our city under attack, Jeremiah’s circumstances remind us that even when things are at their bleakest, God is always at his best.
When things are at their bleakest,
God is always at his best.
What problem weighs heavy on your heart? What situation seems hopeless to you? Whatever it is, bring it to God! Trust him to do what is best! It’s not a question of his power but his purpose. Remember, God has assured us as believers that he will rejoice in doing us good with all his heart and soul.
So let us pray accordingly! The other day I came across a bold prayer in The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. I highlighted it and even took a picture of it with my iPhone so that I could keep it with me. May it encourage you and embolden your faith in God, who is much more eager to answer than we are to ask!
Nothing exceeds thy power,
Nothing is too great for thee to do,
Nothing is too great for thee to give.Infinite is thy might,
Boundless thy love,
Limitless thy grace,
Glorious thy saving name.Let angels sing for
sinners repenting,
prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed,
Satan’s captives released,
blind eyes opened,
broken hearts bound up,
the despondent cheered,
the self-righteous stripped,
the ignorant enlightened,
and saints built up in their holy faith.I ask great things of a great God.