Your Whole Heart

In Jeremiah chapter 24 we are told how Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took the best of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon.  These were a defeated people who were being located into a pagan culture.  They would serve this culture and be in this culture.

God demonstrates using two baskets of figs how He is separating the Hebrews.  One group will be taken away as slaves.  Another will be left.  If one didn’t know what the Lord had intended between these two groups, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that the group taken away were the ones God was not with and the ones left in their homeland were the ones God was with.  But this was not true.  The “good figs” were the ones taken away and the “bad figs” were the ones left.

The “bad figs” were seen as so bad they could not be eaten, the Lord was delivering them “to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.  I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed.” (v 9-10) 

Who, in all the earth, wants to be such a person before the Lord?  My heart hurts thinking of anyone in such a position before God, yet people choose it every day.

The “good figs” were sent away “for their own good” (v 5).  The Lord says, “I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.  THEN I WILL GIVE THEM A HEART TO KNOW ME, THAT I AM THE LORD; AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE, AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, FOR THEY SHALL RETURN TO ME WITH THEIR WHOLE HEART.” (v 6-7)

Is there anything conceivable that could exists that we could possible desire more than this?  To know God with my whole heart and to be His son is all that can be desired.  Does anything else truly exist?  This is the only reality.

Today, we may be going through a tough time.  Maybe you think you are being led away as a slave, defeated to your shame, and your home (what you knew as safe and secure) is lost.  Be careful with such human logic.  The Lord might be leading you away for your good, a “very good” (v 2), that is beyond the expectation of those who seek Him as it will fill your whole heart.  Do not be dismayed.  Look for Him where you are and follow.