Jeremiah 24 reminds me of Report Cards in school. I recall that we got letter grades, but also teachers made comments. I was an extremely shy kid, which left lots of room for my teachers to fill in the blanks with their own assumptions. I remember thinking that my teacher didn’t evaluate me accurately. None knew anything about my home, family, ambitions, or fears. To me, their notes said more about themselves. I saw words like “Careless” and “Lazy” and “Little Effort” and in the Third grade I was demoted to the “Slow Track”. I’ll never forget Ms. Guior giving me different work from the others, and making it clear she would push me to get caught up. I don’t know what she saw, but I know she helped change the course of my life. Today’s short chapter explains that even in exile, God was protecting His defeated. The chapter begins, “After Jehoiachin … king of Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon”. The Babylonians searched out the best and brightest when they conquered an enemy. These high achievers would be retrained, to bolster Babylon’s dominance. I’m certain Jeremiah was devastated at seeing the Jewish people taken into captivity. Have you been questioning a loss?
God gave Jeremiah a picture, “The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple… One basket had very good figs… the other… very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten”. Placed at the Temple meant they were to be an offering to the Lord. God asked, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” Jeremiah wrote in the comments section; “Figs”. Some were “very good” and some “so bad they cannot be eaten”. Some people offer God their best, others their leftover scraps. Those not taken into captivity thought they were special because they were religious, but they were the inferior rejects. Feeling superior? Be careful about the comments you believe.
God gives Jeremiah a peak into the future, “Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place”. Note that the Babylonians did not take them, but God sent them. He continues, “My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land”. He adds, “I will build them up… I will plant them… I will give them a heart to know Me… They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart”. Sometimes God protects us by separating us, but He will bring us back to become useful to Him. What about the self-righteous? “But like the bad figs I will make them abhorrent… a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule”. Perhaps God has you in a place of exile in order to fully ripen? Here’s what I know, “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The chapter closes with God’s assessment of those too proud to worship the One True God, “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them”. Stop looking for the world’s approval; the best grade you will get is Incomplete. I will forever be a slow-tracker that God restored. 2 Corinthians 12:9 explains, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness”. Graduation day is approaching, are you ready?