Only God Holds the Future in His Hands
Scripture Passage: Jeremiah 51:25-35 (NASB)
25 “Behold, I am against you, mountain of destruction
That destroys the whole earth,” declares the Lord,
“And I will stretch out My hand against you,
And roll you down from the rocky cliffs,
And I will make you a burnt out mountain.
26 They will not take from you even a stone for a corner
Nor a stone for foundations,
But you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord.
27 Lift up a signal flag in the land,
Blow a trumpet among the nations!
Consecrate the nations against her,
Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
Appoint an officer against her,
Bring up the horses like bristly locusts.
28 Consecrate the nations against her,
The kings of the Medes,
Their governors and all their officials,
And every land under their control.
29 So the land quakes and writhes,
For the plans of the Lord against Babylon stand,
To make the land of Babylon
A desolation without inhabitants.
30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting,
They stay in the strongholds;
Their strength is exhausted,
They are becoming like women;
Their homes are set on fire,
The bars of her gates are broken.
31 One courier runs to meet another,
And one messenger to meet another,
To tell the king of Babylon
That his city has been captured from end to end;
32 The river crossing places have been seized,
And they have burned the marshes with fire,
And the men of war are terrified.
33 For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says:
“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
At the time that it is tread down;
In just a little while the time of harvest will come for her.”
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me,
He has set me down like an empty vessel;
He has swallowed me like a monster,
He has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
He has washed me away.
35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,”
The inhabitant of Zion will say;
And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
Jerusalem will say.
SUMMARY
Jeremiah prophesies about Babylon’s coming destruction. God tells Jeremiah that a time will come when Babylon will be desolate, when the nations will join up against Babylon and destroy it. God will “consecrate the nations” against Babylon, and His plans against Babylon stand. When the time comes for Babylon’s destruction, its warriors will cease fighting and their homes and lands will be set on fire and destroyed. Just as Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon) devoured Israel, the same violence will be done to Babylon.
REFLECTION
No matter who is in charge, ultimately God is in charge. Even though people think that they are the ones who cause events, the reality is that God and only God holds the future in His hands. First, it was the kings of Judah who thought they were in charge, but because they were sinful God swept them away. Then other nations like the Babylonians, the Egyptians and the Philistines thought their huge armies gave them ultimate power. But God caused the Egyptians and Philistines to be swept away, and now He shows that the Babylonians will be too. In the end, no matter how much we work with our own hands to shape our future, we are not in charge.
APPLICATION
This is actually very comforting to me, as lately I am continually tossed back and forth by dividing thoughts about so many issues, including how to handle my work, how best to raise my son, even how to handle decisions about COVID and other medical issues. But ultimately, what matters is not my own plan. I can try to maneuver and plot and manipulate things however I want, but in the end God’s will controls, His plan will be carried out. All I need to do is what Jeremiah, Daniel and others did – remain faithful to God and His Word.
Over the past few weeks I’ve seen my work consume me. I get wrapped up in certain projects and I ignore my family and others around me, and my wife and son constantly see me staring at my phone at all hours of the day. This past week, I tried to purposely keep my attention away from work in the evenings, using some recommendations that I found online about how to redirect my focus away from work. But my will is so weak. And I realized – I am relying on my own strength, but I haven’t once prayed to God this week to keep me focused on Him instead of work. My instinct is always to try to accomplish things by my own strength, but my own efforts are useless.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to seek You out. When my life becomes complicated or difficult, my instinct is always to try to rely on my own strength. I grab the problem tightly with both hands, and I cannot let go. Lord, I do this even though I have no strength of my own, even though I know that it’s Your will and not mine that will ultimately prevail. Please send Your Holy Spirit to me, let Your Spirit fill me completely, that I might turn to You in all circumstances instead of anywhere else. Thank you Lord, that even though I still make mistakes and disregard Your will for me, You still guide me, lead me and bring me back to You. We praise you Lord. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.
In Jesus’s name I pray, Amen.
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