Do you wonder if God remembers you? If someway, somehow you are invisible in these busy days? That what you do day-to-day doesn’t impact the world?
My friend, cast these doubts aside because God loves you, He knows exactly where you, and you, because of Him, have the power to affect eternity. Take a moment and breathe the truth into the depths of your soul. You – because of Him – can impact eternity.
I encourage you to remember that God has a distinct plan for each of us, and it is always His very best. Sometimes it seems there is no end to the struggles in our life – whether these struggles are ones we brought on ourselves or are due to other people’s decisions.
Often it is easy to give up hope when we are in this state. However, the Bible shows of many who have been where we may be in this season of life. Let’s look at Baruch and see how he handled his predicament and hopefully learn from him.
In Jeremiah 45, we find Baruch, who is being threatened by the King for writing and reading Jeremiah’s preaching to him – in fact, the King burns the documents. He finds himself accused of stirring up hostility, and then when Baruch is anxious and overwhelmed, God speaks truth through Jeremiah, his friend.
Baruch, whose name means blessed, had his share of troubles –
1. He was the son of Neriah and served as Jeremiah’s scribe and friend. He wrote down Jeremiah’s preaching and read it to the King’s counselors, who took it to the King. Jehoiakim burned it, but Jeremiah dictated it again (Jer 36).
a. Young believers are often discouraged with little difficulties that they meet at first in the service of God.
i. Proverbs 24:10 If you are slack in the day of distress, your strength is limited.
b. Instead of counting it worthy to suffer, Baruch thought upon God, as the God who dealt with him harshly.
i. Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.
2. Jeremiah was accused of being a mere instrument of Baruch’s enmity (Jer 43:3).
a. Jer 43:3 But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.
3. Jeremiah counseled Baruch to place his confidence wholly in the Lord and not seek great things for himself (Jer 45)
a. It is our over fondness for the good things of this present time that makes us impatient under its evil things.
b. God gave him hope that he would be safe though there was destruction all around him.
Sometimes it seems our struggles will not cease, but on the contrary, they will. God is using you right now to be a testimony to His grace, love, strength, courage, and wisdom. When you know God in His completeness and not just the feel-good scriptures, then a whole new level of looking at the world appears!
My friend, wherever you are, you are not alone on this journey as we are all learning and growing every day we are on this earth. My prayer for you and me is to keep our faces lifted toward heaven with feet planted on this soil and demanding of our tongue to speak eternal life.
Blessings,
K-Trina