“but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.”
– Jeremiah 9:24
Hi James and Ellen,
Are there times when the constant bantering of guys, gals and kids around you have gotten on your nerves so much that you wish that every guy, gal and kid will stop talking and leave? Are there times when you so badly want to be alone that you really wish that you had a place where you could go to to hide from everyone? Are there times when you have so many things that you have and want to do that you really wish that you could start all over again with nothing on your plate to do? Are there times when you feel exhausted from being constantly caught up in the daily ‘rat race’? Are there times when it seems like every guy, gal and kid who you know thinks that he or she needs to criticize you for what you did or said? Are there times when everything seems to go wrong for you? What are you doing to unwind from your daily stressors? What are you doing to deflect your ongoing aggravations? When are you doing to have margin? Where are you doing for downtime? What are you doing to refill your spiritual reservoir?
After an activity filled day of being with energetic guys and gals and because your grandmaa and grandpaa are both hardwired introverts, your grandmaa and grandpaa both need alone time to refill their energy ‘tank’. When your grandmaa and grandpaa take a rare vacation, your grandmaa and grandpaa go to places where they can comfortably hang out in their hotel room, walk to area sites and restaurants and do something that your grandmaa and grandpaa both enjoy doing. At the end of a couple of railroad trips that your grandmaa and grandpaa made that ended up in Puerto Suarez, Bolivia, your grandmaa and grandpaa crossed over the border between Bolivia and Brazil to spend several vacation days in Corumbá, Brazil. Your grandmaa and grandpaa made these trips by train to visit railroad towns where South America Mission – which is the mission that your grandmaa and grandpaa were missionaries with in Bolivia for 12 years, had affiliated churches to recruit guys and their wives – if a guy was married, to study at the rural resident Bible education and leadership training center program that your grandmaa and grandpaa got up and going and were administrating in Concepción, Nuflo de Chávez, Bolivia. When your grandmaa and grandpaa were in Corumbá, they would on one of the days go fishing on the Paraguay River and in the tributaries that emptied into the Paraguay River. Your grandmaa liked going with your grandpaa in the flat bottom, aluminum boat that your grandpaa rented with a guide – who would supply fishing poles, bait and food, because your grandpaa knew that she would see different kinds of birds, maybe alligators and possibly capybaras. Your grandmaa always caught at least her share of the fish that she and your grandpaa caught during the times when your grandmaa and grandpaa fished in the area that is known as the Pantanal – which is a wetland area that is about ten times larger than the Everglades and which is situated on the frontiers of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia. Your grandmaa and grandpaa – while on their Paraguay River fishing excursions, would catch dorado – which is a gold-colored bass, pacu – which eats a fruit that falls from trees that grow on the banks of the Paraguay River, ten to twelve pound pintado and surubi – which are two different kinds of catfish and four to five pound blunt headed, razor sharp teethed piranha. The times that your grandmaa and grandpaa spent on the Paraguay River were invariably relaxing and recouping times for them. Your grandpaa knows that he really needs to do a lot more vacation time with your grandmaa.
Jeremiah seriously needed a break. Jeremiah – in Jeremiah 9, was at a point where he could only literally cry. As a God sent spokesman to God’s specially chosen guys and gals – who were the Israelite people group guys and gals, Jeremiah was feeling an overbearing responsibility to have God’s specially chosen guys and gals – who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem, listen to him – which they were not doing. God’s specially chosen guys and gals – instead of listening to the dire warnings and the pending doom that God told Jeremiah to tell His specially chosen guys and gals, God’s specially chosen guys and gals spent their time distrusting and deceiving each other and going from one sin to another sin. Jeremiah could see the ‘handwriting on the wall’ as to what God had told him was going to happen to His specially chosen guys and gals was about to happen. God had told Jeremiah that the city of Jerusalem would become a ruined heap and a jackal haunt and that the land of Judah would become a bleak, desolate wasteland where there would no longer be the sounds of cows mooing, birds peeping and animals yipping. Jeremiah knew that the obstinacy of God’s specially chosen guys and gals – which had them worshipping Baals and not obeying the commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai that He expected His specially chosen guys and gals to obey, would cause them to become bitter food and poisoned water. The only hope that God’s specially chosen guys and gals had was to heed verse 24, “but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.” Because God’s specially chosen guys and gals did not do what God expected them to do, they became shattered. If you do not take time to relax, reflect and refuel, you will become busted, too.
Jeremiah 9 (982)