I Bought The Field

"Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said to me, 'Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy {it} for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. "I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. "I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. Jeremiah 32:8-10 NASB

This is an amazing passage of Scripture. Just to get a basic understanding, Jerusalem had been besieged by Babylon, and Judah lay waste. Most of the people had been carried off to Babylon, and only the very poor were left. In fact, Jeremiah was in prison! And that was when the Word of the Lord came to him. Look at what God tells him to do. He said to buy a field in Anathoth from his cousin. God was asking Jeremiah to do something that made absolutely no sense at all. This is like us today going to the worst, burnt out area of the city, and while everyone else is getting out of town, and values are plummeting, we buy property. It made no sense to the natural man. But Jeremiah obeyed God, and did it anyway, having the deed shut away in a jar of clay, with only a seemingly far-off promise of future blessing, and a declaration of, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee” (v. 17)

I wonder how Jeremiah must have felt when this all occurred. I wonder if there was any doubt or wonder at why God would have him do such a thing. All he could do was put it in God’s hands, not knowing when promise would come to pass. To the onlooker, or the witnesses that day to the transaction, it must have seemed so foolish. “Jeremiah’s buying a field where…?” could have been whispered in the prison cell that day. I think I know somewhat how Jeremiah must have felt.

You see, these past several weeks, I’d been going though one of the hardest times of my life. I was on the verge of losing everything, and God seemed so silent about my trial. I had times where I cried out, even sometimes yelled at God (think of the scene in the movie, “The Apostle”, where Sonny is screaming at the Lord). Yet, I could sense the Lord urging me to press on, to keep being faithful. I didn’t realize it fully till the next day, but I was so downcast I was about to walk away from my calling. In my mind, all I could do was reason that it’s no use. I keep tithing, I keep praying and seeking God. I keep studying the Word and getting sermons, which if it weren’t for this blog, probably wouldn’t ever be preached. I had all I could take. Perhaps Jeremiah kept thinking about that waste of a field that the Babylonian armies were sitting on, fighting the urge to scream about the waste of money. This was where I was at.

Then, on Sunday morning, my pastor had finished preaching and given an altar call. I can’t even remember what it was for now, but I went forward, and prayed one more time. Before I knew it, there were five or six people gathered around me praying. They were all praying to God about what I had need of! God was there and He had heard me all along! Then, an older brother in the church, a councilman, full of wisdom, came up to me and started speaking the Word to me. He reminded me of God’s promises. He reminded me of God’s timing. And most of all, he reminded me of God’s call on my life. I don’t think that man understood the brevity of where I stood at that moment, on the edge of laying my call aside. It was exactly what I needed to hear. It was a word in due season, spoken to my weary soul.

The full impact of what happened that morning didn’t hit me until the next evening, as I was stuck in traffic on I-94, trying to come home. It brought tears to my eyes to realize how great God’s call is, and that even though everything seemed to be falling apart, He was still there calling me, and using me. Today, I have a renewed passion for following the Lord Jesus wholly.

I am so grateful that when I was at my lowest, He sent someone by to tell me what I needed to hear the most. Thank you, Lord, for the grace and goodness to me. God bless.