Nevertheless
"Nevertheless in those days," says the LORD, "I will not make a complete end of you." --Jeremiah 5:18
I had an interesting conversation with a trainee this morning as we were running. He came alongside of me and told me how his parents had been to New Orleans to see the destruction left behind in the wake or Hurricane Katrina. He then wanted to draw a comparison with Sodom and Gamorrah, asking if God was destroying a city that had a sinful reputation just as he had done in Genesis.
The people of Israel were facing the same kinds of destruction. Jeremiah's words were to be like fire consuming the dead, dry wood of Israel. Nations were to come calling with quivers like tombs, raining down death and destruction. These nations would scavenge up every crop and scrap of food, leaving the Israelites without a harvest and putting their daily existence at risk.
Nevertheless. In this one verse, there is one word that changes the whole focus. Nevertheless. Even though all of these things will certainly happen, nevertheless, there will be hope; this will not be your end.
The purpose of these disasters, Katrina and the invasion of Israel, was not to judge and punish. I believe they were to re-focus God's people upon Him. Each of these disasters would remove any other props, supports, and false hopes that the people had and, hopefully, bring them to rely on the LORD. His promise is that this will not be the end of Israel. I would daresay this is not the end of New Orleans. Nevertheless, all these things will happen anyway.
As I shared all this with the trainee, I realized what a joy it would be to be a pastor in New Orleans right now because the spiritual soil must be as fertile as the silt that flows down the Mississippi River. I'm praying God's deepest blessings on the men and women who will speak of Christ's love and support to a people who have nothing else right now.
I had an interesting conversation with a trainee this morning as we were running. He came alongside of me and told me how his parents had been to New Orleans to see the destruction left behind in the wake or Hurricane Katrina. He then wanted to draw a comparison with Sodom and Gamorrah, asking if God was destroying a city that had a sinful reputation just as he had done in Genesis.
The people of Israel were facing the same kinds of destruction. Jeremiah's words were to be like fire consuming the dead, dry wood of Israel. Nations were to come calling with quivers like tombs, raining down death and destruction. These nations would scavenge up every crop and scrap of food, leaving the Israelites without a harvest and putting their daily existence at risk.
Nevertheless. In this one verse, there is one word that changes the whole focus. Nevertheless. Even though all of these things will certainly happen, nevertheless, there will be hope; this will not be your end.
The purpose of these disasters, Katrina and the invasion of Israel, was not to judge and punish. I believe they were to re-focus God's people upon Him. Each of these disasters would remove any other props, supports, and false hopes that the people had and, hopefully, bring them to rely on the LORD. His promise is that this will not be the end of Israel. I would daresay this is not the end of New Orleans. Nevertheless, all these things will happen anyway.
As I shared all this with the trainee, I realized what a joy it would be to be a pastor in New Orleans right now because the spiritual soil must be as fertile as the silt that flows down the Mississippi River. I'm praying God's deepest blessings on the men and women who will speak of Christ's love and support to a people who have nothing else right now.
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