Hope in a Difficult Season

For many years, there is a passage in Jeremiah that has reminded me of lived hoped. In Chapter 32, while the prophet Jeremiah is in jail for speaking God’s word and judgement over the people of Judah, he receives a message from God. His cousin will visit him and offer him to buy a land in Anathoth, a field that is about to be occupied by the Babylonians. It does not make sense and it sounds like a cruel petition, to want to sell an almost-occupied land to a jailed family member. However, God tells Jeremiah to do it, to bring witnesses and to seal it for the future.

I have thought a lot about this passage. Jeremiah is asked to do something that makes no sense in the present and goes against common sense. However, God does point to him that one reason for safekeeping the contract is because it is a witness to the future: “Life is going to return to normal. Homes and fields and vineyards are again going to be bought in this country.” (Jeremiah 32:15b). In the end of the chapter, God repeats again that he will bring restoration to the people of Judah.

Peacemaking is a work of hope. In this advent season, hope is one of the key things we are reminded of. It is a hope lived in difficult circumstances and for difficult seasons. The work of peace and the investment of our lives in God’s kingdom goes against the grain, but it is also a witness of the work that God is ushering. Our lived hope in meaningful actions- either small or big- are a witness to the work of God’s restoration. In this Christmas season we are reminded that God has brought restoration to his people, and we celebrate that God’s love, presence and peace are presented to us in a baby.

May we live in the hope of the complete restoration God has promised in Christ.

– Alejandra Ortiz, Global Immersion Special Advisor