As A Shepherd Wraps His Garment

So, they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord and went as far as Tahpanhes. In Tahpanhes the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them. He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword. He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd wraps his garment around him, so will he wrap Egypt around himself and depart from there unscathed. There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’” (Jeremiah 43:7–13, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Whether we care to admit it or not, there are likely many times that life is being unfair to us. In essence, we are saying that God is being unfair to us. We may not call Him out on it specifically, but it’s there, nonetheless. Although if we are His children, we know that He is never unfair. Just? Yes. Unfair? No. Good? Always.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” (Jeremaih 29:11, NIV 1984). To the Jews, this declaration immediately followed God’s promise to return them from captivity after seventy years had passed. Which He did, of course. And while we must always be careful about lifting a verse out of its immediate context and apply it in a broader context, I believe we can be safe in believing that this same sentiment applies to followers of Christ today.

It may have seemed unfair to the Jews when God said not to go to Egypt. And why not? Escape the yoke of Babylon and find security under Pharoah. But God knew the future, they did not. Babylon would not stop with Judah. They would also go to Egypt, taking with them death, captivity, sword and fire. This is what the Jews exchanged for God’s promise to restore the Jewish kingdom in seventy years (“hope and a future“), when they disobeyed His warning to not go to Egypt.

My Musings – All too often we want to exchange immediate gratification in “Egypt” for a God-promised future hope. when it doesn’t happen, we tend to feel that God is not being fair. That He has forgot “the plans [He has] for [us].” And this goes beyond fairness. It calls into question His goodness and justice.

Sometimes justice is involved. When we go through difficult times as He brings correction into our lives. But goodness is always involved, even in justice. Goodness, when He redirects our paths (that seemed good to us) to prevent trouble at the end of those paths or take us to something even better on the path we did not want to take.

Because “we [should] know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose…predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,” (Romans 8:28–29, NIV 1984). When it says “in all things,” it implies that there very well may be “things” that are not so good. Whether those “things” are correction or redirection. They will “[work] for the good.“

Instead of questioning God’s fairness (goodness), we should look beyond the present circumstances and ask how they might be “[conforming us] to the likeness of His Son.” Let’s wrap ourselves in the garments of the Good Shepherd. One day, we will “depart from [unpleasant circumstances] unscathed,” into the Kingdom of light.