“Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.
– Jeremiah 30:10

My college summers were filled with working as much as possible, so it wasn’t until I was on a break that I’d realized I’d missed a call from my college roommate. I pulled up the voicemail expecting a cheery update on her summer, but instead I was shocked to hear her report that an electrical malfunction had caused her family home to burn completely to the ground. Everything was lost. Even when her family eventually began to plan what rebuilding a home looked like, the grief of memories gone too fast hung over them.

I’m sure quite a few of us know what it means to long for a past that seems permanently out of reach. Dreams that come crashing down, families that fall apart, and empty seats at holiday meals remind us of a happiness that seems far gone.

No one knew the pain of losing everything better than the people the prophet Jeremiah preached to. Because of ongoing idolatry, the kingdom of Judah was overtaken and the people forced away from the land God had promised to their fathers. By all rights, this book should be solely a devastating account of unfixable loss.

Yet in the midst of Jeremiah’s prophecy an unexpected theme keeps appearing: hope. Jesus would not appear in the manger of Bethlehem for another 600 years and yet the hope of Christ is resounding throughout the prophecy, reminding the people that God has not abandoned them. This is a hope which promises that joy is never permanently behind us, but found in the love of Christ. So if someone you love is feeling like all joy is behind them, take today to remind them of Christian hope which points to Christ ever before us.

Prayer: Jesus, remind me daily that grief can never overpower the hope you deliver through your Cross.

Daily Reading: Matthew 8

– Contributed by Hannah Hayden