A Sure-Fire Investment.

“And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field—paying good money for it before these witnesses—even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.” ­– Jeremiah 32:15 NLT

We’ve all received bad investment advice at one time or another. Lately, if you have any investments at all, you’ve seen their value drop like a rock as the economy continues to struggle. But who in their right mind would buy a piece of property in a land that was about to become the property of another nation? Who would make an investment like that knowing good and well that for the next 70 years he would be living in exile in another land? Yet that is exactly the investment advice that God gave Jeremiah – who is sitting in jail when he receives the great news from God. The ironic thing is that God had Jeremiah buy a piece of property outside the city walls of Jerusalem where the troops of Babylon had taken up occupancy more than a year earlier when they began their seige of the city. Jeremiah was buying enemy-occupied land. Yet he did as God commanded and bought the land for 17 pieces of silver. Jeremiah knew that this was another object lesson God was giving him in order to make a point. “For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields'” (Jeremiah 32:15 NLT). God had assured Jeremiah that this was a good investment – but Jeremiah had his doubts – and he expressed them in a prayer.

While he believed that nothing was too hard for God to do, he began to have second thoughts about the wisdom of His investment strategy. Even if God returned them to the land, it would be seventy years later, and Jeremiah would not be around to use the land he had bought. His 17 pieces of silver would have been wasted. Even if Jeremiah’s descendants were someday able to occupy the land he had bought, he would never have the pleasure of living on it himself. Yet God assures Jeremiah, “I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.” (Jeremiah 32:37-40 NLT). God promises Jeremiah that “fields will again be bought and sold in this land.” Jeremiah would not live to see that day. And few, if any, of the people who were alive when Jeremiah was prophesying, would live to see that day either. After 70 years of captivity, only the youngest children would live long enough to make it back to the land. And not all those in captivity would be allowed to return. And when they did return, they would find the land devastated, the cities destroyed, Jerusalem in a shambles, and the Temple broken down and unusable. God also promised Jeremiah that He would “raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line” (Jeremiah 33:15 NLT). God is saying that there will be a new king to sit on the throne of David, and yet, the people of Israel have not had a king since the day Judah fell into the hands of the Babylonians. So what is God promising? When is all this good news going to take place? When will Jeremiah experience a return on his investment? In that day! There is a day yet future when God will fulfill all these promises. It will happen when His Son, Jesus Christ, returns to the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation and put an end to all sin. He will establish His kingdom in Jerusalem and the people of God will return to the land once and for all. It will be at that time that all of these promises are ultimately fulfilled. God will do everything He has promised to do. Jeremiah’s investment will prove to have been a wise one. That land will be invaluable and its worth, incalculable. God can be trusted. His advice is worth listening to. “But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them” (Jeremiah 33:25-26 NLT).

Father, Your Word is always true. Your counsel is always worth listening to. Even when it doesn’t seem to make sense to me. Jeremiah had his doubts about the wisdom of what You asked him to do. I sometimes struggle with the things You are telling me to do. On an earthly level, it doesn’t always make sense. But You are operating on a while other plane. You are seeing things from a much greater perspective than I can see. Help me to trust You more and obey You because nothing is too hard for you. You have a plan and I can trust it. Your strategy for future prosperity is perfect and worth investing in. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org