Following on from my musings inspired by the new gym at Dearneside, I have also been meditating on Jeremiah’s calling. God called Jeremiah to be a prophet and confirmed His calling through two visions which, on first sight, do not appear particularly inspiring. The first vision is of an almond tree; the second, a tilting boiling pot. (Jer 1:11-13) I am quite sure such visions would not have meant very much to me!
The almond tree vision speaks of the coming of spring, for it is one of the earliest trees to bloom in Palestine, putting forth blossom before it produces fruit, almost as a ‘guarantee’ of what is to come. The word for almond tree (shaqed) is also very similar to the Hebrew word for ‘watching’ (shoqed), so the vision is supplemented by aural word play (God watching to see that His word is fulfilled). Eugene Peterson says ‘every spring for the rest of his life, the sight of the almond blessing, shaqed, would trigger the sound shoqed in his memory’ (‘Run With The Horses’, P 53-54), reminding him of the life-enhancing, energy-releasing associations of spring and of the faithfulness of God to fulfil all His promises.
The boiling pot is identified as enemy armies poised for an invasion (Jer 1:14-16), reminding Jeremiah of the cleansing power of judgment and also reminding him that evil has an origin and a finish: ‘not a wild, uncontrollable evil… a carefully commanded judgment, with God as the commander.’ (ibid. P 55) Such visions, therefore, created in Jeremiah both a keen sense of hope in God and an awareness that he need not be overpowered or intimidated by evil. He was given a vision of God’s authority and strength and character which could shape his whole life.
We need such visions of God if we are to remain strong and faithful to the end. Dave spoke on Sunday evening about Isaiah’s vision of the holiness of God which shook him and acted as the motivating call in his life. (Is 6:1-8) The Bible lists many other such revelations of God which help us to see life through God’s eyes, changing the way we look at things and thereby allowing us, and the situations in which we find ourselves, to be changed.