Jeremiah 30:1-24 Write This Down
God has been speaking to Jeremiah for some time. Now He says to “Write this down” so that it will be a hope and a reminder. That’s why we have this book today.
I’m SO grateful that God told Jeremiah to write down all he has heard from Him. God didn’t tell him to only write the good parts, or the parts that bring hope. He told Jeremiah to write it ALL down. Including the fact that GOD did this to them. And the reason for it. This is a lesson that God wants His people to remember FOREVER. For, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (George Santayana).
Israel’s history reminds me of a quilting project. I’m going to pop back and forth between my quilting process and Israel’s history so you can follow along with me and my meaning.
I have a room filled with fabrics to work with but I go through and choose the pieces I most desire. Sometimes they have been in storage so long that they have creases pressed into them. I iron out the creases, fold the fabric along the grainline and gently place it on my cutting table. After making sure the selvages (finished edges) match, I move my piece into position for my first cut. 99.999% of the time, this includes a first cut at the 0” line. This is supposed to make the rest of my cuts even. This is ‘truing up’ my edges.
God chose Abram out of ALL the world to be His own. He separated him from his familiar surroundings and began working on his faith. He needed quite a bit of training or ironing out the creases to get him ready for his first big step; making a covenant with God. In that covenant was a step of ‘truing up the edges’ called circumcision. It was a physical symbol of getting the body ready to grow a true heart. This identified every male born into this beginning group and was intended to be carried out for each subsequent generation; making all the cuts even.
After my initial cut, my fabric is ready for several more cuts that will wind up as strips of fabric. These strips are cut until I reach the end of my cutting mat. Then I have to advance the fabric to the 0” line and start again. IF I did my cutting and positioning correctly, I won’t have to cut another small strip off to ‘true up’ my edges again.
Fast forward in Israel’s history a bit and we come to Jacob and his children. All these were originally to be of equal ‘width’ and purpose. But it didn’t turn out that way. Some were cut ‘wider’, some were made a little narrower, some needed ‘truing up’ again as they went down the line. But they were ALL important and necessary to the finished work God had in mind.
Once I have all my strips cut of each fabric I intend to use in my quilt, I then have to cut the desired length for my pieces from those strips. IF I did a good job when cutting my strips, this part is easier. IF I didn’t get my strips straight, I have to be extra careful when cutting my pieces. I even wind up tossing in the ‘scrap pile’ the portions that don’t quite meet with the requirements because they are too narrow. If I have pieces that are too wide, I cut both directions until I have the pieces I need.
Each son is apportioned their place within the framework of Israel’s future. Some had to be re-worked to be usable again because of skewed portions of their lives. But finally all were ready to be weaved into one nation at the time God brought them to Egypt.
After all the pieces have been cut, I begin assembling my rows. One row joins the next which joins the next until my quilt top is complete. Oops! I messed up a square and have to take it out. Or I didn’t get my edges aligned quite right and I have a seam that won’t hold up. Or my corners didn’t match up. All these require me to stop, carefully tear out my seams and restitch them; sometimes putting a new piece in the place of an old one that didn’t fit right. Before calling it good though, I carefully examine all my seams to ensure they are good and that I don’t have any more places where I need to do repairs.
God continued to assemble His pieces for His work while they were in Egypt. He was ready for assembly when He brought them out of Egypt. They were to be His masterpiece. But the pieces wouldn’t fit quite right. He had to replace pieces, rework ‘seams’ and reinforce parts whare stress kept pulling it apart. Finally, He brought His handiwork into the Promised Land.
The top is now assembled but the quilt is not complete. It needs two more layers to actually be a quilt. It needs batting (stuffing) and a backing. Depending on what backing I choose it can bring me all the way back to the beginning steps. If my quilt isn’t too big, then I can simply use a straight piece of fabric for the backing. Putting these three layers together involves a couple of options and they are dependent on the tools I have on hand for the job. I used to carefully stretch, pin, and spray glue them together to prepare them for the permanent joining process; quilting. Now I have a quilting frame that I wind each piece onto a separate roller and put them together as they pass under the sewing machine mounted there. The final joining process can now begin as, after either initial ‘sandwiching’ becomes permanent with line after line of quilting stitching done from side to side from the start of the quilt to the end of it.
God hap prepared the ‘other two pieces’ of His ‘quilt’ when He began assembling the pieces. They were His Law and the leadership. These pieces were to be stitched together into one beautiful finished work. His Law was the stabilizing piece for ALL the project. It held everything else together. The stitching was His love and care. It was to unite all the pieces in a permanent bond. But here is were my analogy hits a snag. The original ‘quilt top’ had to be reworked MANY times over. God would begin quilting it together and the top would skew or tear. God had to rip parts of it out and begin again with only a portion of the original. This happened when Israel was split in two pieces. Judah was a remnant. Now Judah is being torn apart and those who submitted to God’s lesson are the remnant He will rebuild with again. God will also rebuild the back of His quilt; the leadership.
Fast forward seventy years and God is ready to reconstruct His work. It doesn’t look like His original but it is still precious to Him. He will again sew all three parts together, using His Law as the stabilizing piece. It is the only piece that didn’t get reworked. He will stitch it together again with love, and this time, it will stay together.
Are we done yet? Nope. Now I have to attach a binding to the edges to keep it from raveling or snagging. It also dresses it up. Depending on the kind of binding I’m using, it can be a simple three step process (pin, sew one seam, turn over and sew the back seam) or a lengthy start from the beginning process again; cutting fabric strips, attaching them together, ironing them into the correct width and fold pattern, and then attaching the length of them to the quilt edges.
God bound Israel together through the lessons they shared. It is something that will be their shared history and be a framework for their progress from then on. Israel has held onto this framework to this day.
After all this careful work, I am still not finished. My next step is a VERY important one. I have skipped it a few times and come to regret it. This is the ‘quality check’ step. It includes washing my quilt, ironing it, and inspecting for any seam separations. If I find any, I hand sew them back together before delivering my quilt to its recipient.
God is constantly going over His work and making repairs where needed. He also has enough patience to pick out the stitches whenever He sees a place that really needs replaced instead of repaired. He will continue to do this until the day He finally presents His finished work to Jesus for Him to rule over.
One thing about quilting is learning how to do it right. You need either someone who is already skilled in this or an instruction manual. A ‘cheat sheet’ is filled with tips that you want to remember to make the job easier. This is what God created with Jeremiah. He is having Jeremiah record everything He says, why He says it, what He has done/is doing/will do, and what comes next. He wants to make CERTAIN His handiwork will survive over time and give them ‘care instructions’ to keep it from being ruined again.
Father God, thank You for having the foresight to make a ‘cheat sheet’ for me. Your word is FULL of information I need on a daily basis. If it wasn’t for Your word, I wouldn’t know the history of Israel and Your relationship with Your people. I wouldn’t even know of Your love for me if You hadn’t put it down for me to find!
Thank You for making Your word real to me too! For helping me see it in a way that makes sense to me and that I can keep in my heart forever. I’m sorry Your ‘quilt’ keeps getting messed up and in need of reworking. I’m looking forward to the day when I can see ALL You created in its perfect form. That includes my life. I’m still a work in progress and in need of MUCH reworking myself. I’m SO GLAD You don’t throw me in the scrap heap instead of fixing me. Let me NEVER abandon my firm foundation piece.
