Jeremiah 33:3 “’Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’”
Observation: The Lord was reviewing powerful promises He will restore to the people once they have been delivered from captivity in Babylon.
Application: God is an encourager. Even as He points to the need for us to receive certain disciplines in our lives, He is also quick to paint a picture of the good that will come through those seasons of discipline. Nowhere is that more evident than in the first nine verses of Jeremiah 33. Destruction was coming, but if in the midst of it the people will call upon His name, He will show them great and mighty things, things they did not know and could not have imagined.
This calling could not be the simple call for rescue of the man who has fallen into a well and needs a rope, for God had earlier made clear that the man deserved to be in the well. God directed the man’s steps to the very edge, and then allowed its deep darkness to pull him into its depths, all for the purpose of bringing repentance (see Jeremiah 32:42).
No, the calling described by Jeremiah is the call of one who has learned a lesson while in the well and is now ready to rejoin the light. Such a person would be eager to resume his or her place within the family of God, now filled with purpose to make Him known. Lavish promises follow for one who has turned toward the light and is restored: health and healing, an abundance of truth and praise. There will be deliverance from all iniquity and the world will be filled with fear and trembling as others see all the good God will do.
So call upon the Lord. Not a call for rescue from pain, but the call of a heart that celebrates having met God in the midst of pain. Not the call of one who says, “OK God, I’ve been in this hard place for a while. I think I’ve about had enough, don’t You?” No, this must be the call of one who has walked the whole trial and has finally come to the end, to a place where the disciplines of God have finally removed all thoughts of not deserving to be in this fix.
That’s when my call to God is heard, and deliverance comes.
Think of Jeremiah 33:3 as God’s phone number. Use it when needed. He will indeed answer. He will indeed show great and mighty things, the greatest of which will be your own heart, now transformed into a voluntary lover of Him.
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for answering my call. Thank You for restoration. Thank You for redemption. Thank You for seasons of discipline that have made me better able to worship You in all circumstances.