October
2006
Jeremiah
by Vasthi Acosta
Lately, I have been reading from the book of Jeremiah. This morning, as I turned to a new passage, the headings of several chapters struck me. They read:
Jeremiah’s scroll burned
Jeremiah in prison
Jeremiah thrown in a cistern
Talk about the good life. These passages certainly go against the current popular theology of positive thinking, or feel good Christianity; even against the ‘claim it” or prosperity teachings.
Not that I have anything against positive thinking or feeling good, for that matter. Just that when I look at the life of Jeremiah, Abraham, Moses, David, Esther, Mary, Jonah, Paul (should I go on?), their life was not bread and roses. They knew adversity. Their sense of contentment, well being, or satisfaction didn’t come from their outward circumstances but from their relationship with God.
And, I guess there is the rub. Why do we expect life to be free of trouble? Yes, I know that God gives us the desires of our hearts, even when we are not clear what those are. God is true to his word. And He wants us to live abundantly, free, content. The caveat is that we accomplish this in HIM.
Let me paraphase a popular song, “we must go through the valley, to stand upon the mountain”. And that’s what most of the “feel good” people leave out. God hasn’t promised a life without trouble; actually, He warns us to be ready for them. What He has promised is to be with us through the trouble. To carry us, provide the strength and wisdom needed at the point of need.
And so, I reached the chapter heading in Jeremiah that read:
Jeremiah freed.
Here, take His hand. Walk through this life with Him; through the fire, deep waters, low valley, and on to the mountain top.
Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discourage, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
And through Him we will soon be free.
The Jeremiah by Violet Voices, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Written By: Vasthi Acosta
Posted under: Women's Voices . 
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Very good! I feel the same way.
This reminds me of a video PJ (my youth pastor) showed. It said how Jeremiah was “depressed a lot.” But then it went on saying that God’s army is the army of the “unqualified but willing.” I dunno but that sounds like me. lol Anyway good post mom.
~Z
OK Vasthi u are officially my favorite blogger look how u have 17 year old girls so intertained…funny thing is im also reading the book of Jeremiah (god works in misterious ways) and i caught myself feeling the same way but i remember what Pastor Josh said (like your daughter) that god has his army of unqualified soldiers who are willing to to fight for him like Jeremiah and Esther and Mary ect. which says alot for us in this century because we have to work to be perfect like christ and until we are perfect like christ we will be gods unqualified but ready for war soldiers…really loved the blog
*~*~*AMANDA*~*~*
Lately, I have been going through some difficult times, but I make sure that I connect with my Father God before I start my day. I try not to let the difficulties get me down and instead try to be on the same page with Him. It’s the best way to get through my days.
Dude!! You know I began reading Jeremiah and had to stop because I started feeling too depressed!! Now, I think I’ll turn back to Jeremiah. I watch the Praise the Lord channel sometimes and I get frustrated with some of the FEEL GOOD stuff. I just don’t think these guys are being realistic!! Then I saw TD Jakes the other night and he was saying the same thing you said in your blog!! Like you said, the lord is always with us. I believe that even before anything happens to us it gets filtered through him, at least that’s what I think. So,when hard times come (and boy sometimes it seems non-stop) I KNOW that I’ll get through it and learn something making my relationship with my God closer!! Afterall, isn’t that what he desires for us all? It’s my goal. Good blog big sister!!
Good one Vasthi. After leaving Seattle and returning home to New York in 1996, I became depressed and overwhelmed by life. One day i got on my knees and i sobbed, Lord please help me keep going, I can’t do this anymore and he answered by blessing me with Joshua 1:8-10 and those first words “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discourage, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.â€
I can’t express what happened to me at that moment, but suddenly something in me
just clicked and life has never been the same again. Don’t get me wrong, i still have hard times and unless the Lord comes tonight, i will continue to live in a cruel world but how I respond to those hard times is so different. Now I just say, Lord help me to be strong and courageous and guess what, he does…and I am! Praise God!