New Deal

Jeremiah 31.31-33:
“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

When President Roosevelt came out with his "New Deal" platform, the country was in need a change. The economy was in the dumps. Many were jobless, and the future did not look as bright as before. Ask anyone who lived during the great depression (and their numbers are dimming), and they will speak of the hardships, the trials, and the sacrifices. Yet, in came Roosevelt with a new zeal. He half-way got the country believing that things could actually turn around. His "fireside chats" brought people hope that this guy knew what he was doing. Somehow people felt like they could trust this "New Deal" he kept mentioning.

Back up a few hundred years to Jeremiah's day. Man... things were bleak. The country was hanging on by a thread, with disaster nipping at it's heels. Little did the country know that it was about to embark into their darkest days since their bondage in Egypt. But Jeremiah knew... he knew all too well. His approach was not delivered as smooth as a modern day politician. Jeremiah was not known for fire side chats, but instead a burning fire from within:

Jeremiah 20.8-9:
Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."

Jeremiah was experiencing what I like to call preaching: "a burning must speak." God's fire within HAS to come out; it cannot remain locked up tight.

Yet, in the midst of this... Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, had a moment of clarity... a moment of peace. In that moment of serenity he asked Baruch to put this new burning on a scroll: God was going to bring a New Deal. This, unlike a politician's campaign promise, was a covenant-sized promise from God Himself. In this "New Deal" was the new way of relating to God. No more were people to relate to Him through their own self-effort, instead... the way was through His good promise alone, that He would do the work for humanity... Therein lies Jeremiah's only fireside chat.

Fast forward a few hundred years to a small, crowded room with 13 men... During the Passover Feast, Jesus proclaims that the "New Deal" has arrived. Through the blood, sweat, and tears of God in the flesh this new way of relating to God would be made possible! How wonderful is the Lord that He did not leave us in bondage! No more are we a slave to sin! The old government is gone! A revolution has taken place! Freedom now reigns, and all because God kept His promise to us...

Prayer: Lord, give us Your "burning must speak." Tell us what You are doing and what You will do! Continue to remove the shackles off the ankles and wrists of those yet to believe and experience You, and make our feet swift to help free them. Remind us of Your New Deal in Jesus, especially when we fail. Remind us, Lord, that the dictator is vanquished, that our foe is conquered. Help us be faithful in this "Kingdom of Heaven" to do what You ask of us... teach us as You did Your disciples. Amen.