December 20

Jeremiah 33.14-16

¹⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

¹⁵ “‘In those days and at that time
    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
    he will do what is just and right in the land.
¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved
    and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Saviour.’

I was watching a British comedic panel show last evening.  On it they were making light of the way politicians make promises with no apparent intention of keeping them.  It’s not about a particular country, perspective or party that this happens.  It just seems to be the way of the world.  Politicians make promises, but don’t have to keep them.  They can come back at the next election and basically say, “This time we mean it.”  And then they will get the votes.

A more realistic understanding of politics says that it is not simply a matter of the will of the politicians.  It is possible they mean those promises each time.  It is possible that they are truly trying to fulfill those promises when they are in office.  The likely answer is that they don’t have the power to enact all the changes we want, or they want.  It could just be outside of their control.  We might think they have some unlimited power.  But even at the top, power is limited.

Something that Jeremiah shows us here is not just the willingness of God to follow through on the promises he has made.  It is the ability to follow through on the promises he has made.  Promises are easy to make.  They are hard to keep.  As parents we have probably all made promises we were unable to keep.  Even if it was not our fault that we could not keep them.  Life can make it difficult.  Finances were less than we had hoped or expenses were higher.  Time was no longer available due to needs at work for our time.

God is not bound by limits of finance.  It’s all his.  God is not bound by limits of time.  He has eternity.  God is not bound by limits of power.  He is omnipotent.  And we can go on.  Because we find that the most important is that God is not bound by selfishness, sinfulness or capriciousness.  God is loving, perfect and consistently good.  God promised to send a saviour.  He sent Jesus.  He promised to make a king in David’s line.  He sent Jesus.  He promises to restore us all and keep us forever in his presence in the resurrection.  He will send Jesus again.  Promises kept.  Promises that can be trusted.

Song – And He Shall Purify

Prayer

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

descend to us, we pray.

Cast out our sin and enter in;

be born in us today.  Amen.