Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear special ones.

It’s a beautiful clear cool morning. It felt almost like ski season this morning on our WOG.

I have a van in the shop to which I need to finish applying graphics. I also spent about 3 hours last night marking out graphics on a big 50-foot truck trailer. I’ll try to get on with that today too. I’ve opted to do a paint job. Trying to apply vinyl would be a nightmare with all the ridges and rivets. I used an opaque projector after dark to register the layout on the trailer…then roughly traced it all out with a special pencil.

Have a good day with what you’re doing.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Is it reasonable to discern a parallel between Israel’s rebellion, disobedience, and exile, and that of our own? Personally, I’m seeing the parallel as striking. As progenitors of our original parents, we were all enjoying close fellowship with our Maker in the heavenly home of the “Garden of Eden,” until we all violated the terms of occupancy, and we were all exiled from that home to be slaves in the foreign territory of a fallen world—exiled, but not abandoned.

Chapter 29 contains a written letter that Jeremiah was inspired to compose and send to his Jewish countrymen who were living as captive exiles in Babylon. I won’t quote it all, but I’ll attempt to paraphrase some of the main ideas of that message. Please read that chapter for yourself, and see how on or off course I am. “This is what the LORD Almighty says to the exiles: Quit griping about your exile! If I am going to be just and consistent it has to be this way. It’s right on schedule. You’re 5 years into it—you only have 65 more to go. You still need to keep the main thing as the main thing—a HEART AFTER GOD—no matter what. If you seek me where you are, I will meet you where you are. My blessings are not confined to your nostalgic or patriotic notions of utopia. Trust me—my plans for you are good ones—and they’re not terminated with a little time in exile. I’m bigger than your homeland. I’m bigger than the temple in Jerusalem. I’m bigger than any well-preserved real estate. And I’m bigger than Babylon. So carry on where I’ve placed you—do the right thing with integrity, be good citizens, be the best slaves you can be, build homes, plant gardens, enjoy your relative prosperity, exercise My gifts, not the least of which is My provision for having fun in bed with your exclusive spouse, and rear your resulting children to do the same—with HEARTS AFTER GOD.” (Disclaimer: I’m not really trying to be sexy here, but the way I process 29:6, God is.)

Jeremiah again draws from the metaphor of “figs” (29:17). He did so earlier. Check it out in Chapter 24. The main idea is that all who are intended (called, predestined) to be blessed of the LORD still have the option to be quite the opposite due to their own choices. So we can live according to our birthright, or sell it. We’re either like good figs, or like bad figs. Here’s a description of good figs: “Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (24:5-7).

I can’t pass up this question: What kind of fig are you? Go FIG-ure.