Category: Encouragement

Who’s Inside Your Head?

Psalm 119:11 (ESV) “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Coaches constantly warn their players not to let the other team get inside their heads.  The other team wants to trash-talk and intimidate and sow doubt about your abilities and chances of winning the game. 

There are all kinds of ways things can “get inside your head” as a Christian.  Constant attention to the wrong messages via all the things you watch, people you listen to (drama), or messages you read can keep you so busy that God’s word drifts to the background.   

Psalm 119:11 (Romans 12:2) teaches us that the Word of God should be inside our heads and hearts guiding, directing, and shaping our thoughts, actions and emotions.  In this way, we are kept from sinning.

There is another thing coaches say a lot, “Play your own game.”  Trust what you have learned from the coach and put it into practice even when the other team says it will never work.  God’s word can be trusted above every other message.  Store it up and practice it in your life.

Don’t Miss the Good That’s Coming.

Jeremiah 29:32 “. . . therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the LORD, for he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.’ ”

Shemaiah stirred up trouble against Jeremiah.  He called for him to be shut up and even locked up because of his prophecy of a long captivity.  As a result, Shemaiah and his family were cursed.  His line would end.  But there was more than that.

Jeremiah did not only prophecy the long captivity in Babylon, he also prophesied the great restoration and the future hope of Israel. Chapters 30-32 are wonderful comforts to God’s people and they look forward to the greater son of David; our Lord Jesus Christ.

Shamaiah’s loss for his rebellion would be “he shall not see the good that I will do to my people.”

  Jeremiah expects that God’s people would want to see beyond the difficult providences of God to the good.  Those who rebel against him in times of trial may miss that good. They may not be around or they may not recognize it when it comes.

In everything that is going on in our world today, God plans a good that he will do to his people.  Ultimately that good is our sanctification and its end, eternal life. Don’t you want to see it? Stay faithful, be watchful, and keep waiting.  You won’t want to miss it.

“Now Is a Good Time to Buy a Field”

In Jeremiah 32, the Lord instructs the prophet to buy a field. The timing is important because the economy didn’t look good and the prospects for Israel didn’t look good. It was the “tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.” The armies of Babylon had besieged Jerusalem. All of life was in shambles and there was no end to the troubles in sight. 

The purchase was to be done as a redemption of family land.  How it was lost by his uncle and how it was that his cousin could not redeem it is not specifically said.  Yet we know that things were very difficult.  It was a time of loss.

Jeremiah bought the field, as the Lord had told him.  The deed was buried in an earthenware vessel so that it would last “a long time.” It was a good investment. It was “insider trading” because Jeremiah was told that the people would be restored to the land. We have insider news as well. We will be delivered one day from this world of sin and misery. 

We all know that things are tough right now.  It is the tough times that remind us to invest in the kingdom of God.  Jesus told the parable of the man that found a treasure in a field. He sold everything he had to buy the field (Mt. 13:44).  He, like Jeremiah, was convinced of a sure thing and acted on it without regard to the cost. 

Are you confident of the sure things God has promised to his children?  Can you see what is happening and yet stay invested in a kingdom that will not be undone by a bad economy, sickness, death, or anything else?  Hard times are the best times to double down on our investment in God’s kingdom.  Keep trusting, keep serving, and keep waiting for Christ’s return.

— Stephen Dufresne