Jeremiah 32:8: “Then Hanameel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.”

October 31st, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

A year before Judah was finally conquered by Babylon, King Zedekiah put Jeremiah in jail for continuing to prophecy that Jerusalem would fall and that he would be taken captive to Babylon. While in prison, God told Jeremiah that Hanameel, his cousin, would come and try to sell him land and that he should buy it. Sure enough, Hanameel came and made the offer, confirming exactly what God had told Jeremiah. Since Jerusalem was surrounded at that time by the Babylonian army, it was a cold-hearted attempt to take advantage of Jeremiah. God had warned Jeremiah that his relatives would turn against him, but ultimately the right to purchase the land belonged to the closest blood relative who could redeem it in order to keep it in the family name, and Jeremiah was that relative. Even though the handwriting was on the wall and the Babylonians were about to take everyone off into captivity, the Lord told Jeremiah to purchase it. The act represented that even though they were being taken captive, God would eventually bring the people back to their land.

For Jeremiah, the offer to buy was an obvious test of whether or not he personally believed the prophecies that he had been hearing from the Lord. How would you act if you really, in the natural, had no hope of ever using the property? Jeremiah saw the hidden hand of God in the storm and chose to act on his belief in God by doing what He called him to do. For every believer, there will come times of trial when we are challenged to wonder where God could possibly be. We serve the God who wants His people to approach difficulty by putting their trust completely in Him. We all must learn and relearn, over and over, to “let go and let God.”

Many years ago a bridge contractor built a new railway bridge in Crawford, Indiana. When the bridge was finished, he knew every joint in it and what it could withstand. When the time came to put it into use, the first train engineer asked him, “Is the bridge all safe?” By way of reply the bridge contractor simply crawled under the new bridge and signaled for the train to come forward. With the same absolute conviction, we must trust the bridge into eternity that Jesus built when He laid down his body, exchanging His life for ours, paying the penalty for our sins. Do you trust Him today?

“LORD, we trust You alone to be the Savior of our souls.”