Word for Wednesday… Directions Home
In those coming days,” says the Lord, “the people of Israel will return home together with the people of Judah. They will come weeping and seeking the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the Lord with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.
Jeremiah 50:4-5
I’ve never appreciated being told what to do, but I feel it’s time to draw the line when my phone starts giving me directions. I’m not referring to the times when I ask my phone to tell me how to get somewhere, but the times when it makes unsolicited suggestions. For example, whenever I get in my car, plug my phone into the cord, and start the engine, the screen on my radio (which is connected to my phone) offers to tell me how to get home. I find it a little unnerving that it knows I’m likely headed home, but it’s beyond frustrating that it thinks I don’t know how to get there. It make me wonder if my “smart phone” is really so smart after all.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote to the people of Israel in the days leading up to and including their exile. He foretold of the impending destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians and the forced exile of most of its inhabitants; however, he also believed that one day they would be able to return home. In the text quoted above he suggests they will not know how to get there and will need to ask directions. What is the cause of their amnesia? Maybe it had simply been too long. Later, Jeremiah places much of the blame on their shepherds, their religions leaders. Whatever the reason, God will be more than happy to show them how to get there.
Maybe you are feeling distant from your spiritual home today; detached and separated from God and from God’s people. You’ve been away for so long you don’t know how to get back there. God will show you if you ask him to help you find your way back to him.