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Just Look Up!
Jon Burgess“This is what the Lord says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me. And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.”
Jeremiah‬ â€33:20-22
This covenant promise of the coming Messiah is being prophesied by a man who is in jail in a city that is besieged by its enemies. Every day that sun rises there's still a lock on Jeremiah's door and there's still a Babylonian army outside Jerusalem's walls. If anyone felt eclipsed by their current circumstances and the outcome of their sin against God it was the people of Israel and Judah. Yet, here is this message of hope that no matter how His people have turned against Him, no matter how their sin has led them to captivity God would not break His covenant with David. No matter how their world was eclipsed in darkness at this time the light of Jesus would break through! Nothing and no one can eclipse God's covenant with His people.
It was the Super Bowl of celestial events this past Monday. The first time since 1918 that we have had a total eclipse across the entirety of the North American Continent. For two and a half minutes a country that has been besieged by the hate of White Supremacy, hating on the President, and hiding from North Korea's nuclear threats were united under one sky. This once-in-a-lifetime event caused us to leave our Netflix (which had 10% drop in viewership during the eclipse), leave our keyboards and computer screens and join as one in desolate areas throughout the U.S. As we all watched the sun slowly eclipsed by the moon we could feel the temperature drop, the crickets begin to chirp and the street lights turned on in the darkness. There was hush that came upon the festivities as darkness claimed the spotlight in the middle of the day. No one was running in fear though. Why not? We all knew the Sun would return. Why? Science. Absolutely. The One behind the science called it all the way back in Jeremiah 33. He was telling His people then and now that no matter how dark it gets, no matter how far you feel from God, the sun will continue to shine and Jesus will continue to reign. It might be good for all us to stop a little more often then once every few decades to look up at the sky see the rising of the sun as the assurance of God's covenant. The Light of the World overcame the darkness through His sacrifice on the Cross to establish an everlasting covenant with all who would believe. The eclipse on the day of His day was yet another proof of the promise that the light would overcome: "It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two." Luke 23:44-45. No matter how permanent that lock looks on your future. No matter how besieged your dreams are at this time nothing can eclipse the love of God for you! If you have repented you are forgiven. God has removed the judgment of sin though you may be walking out the effects of your sin know that you are not alone and this darkness will not remain. Stop right where you are, get out under that sky and know that as long as the sun is shining Your Messiah is fighting for you! "But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David... Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them." Jeremiah 33:25-26. Just look up! God is with you and He is for you! Nothing can eclipse the covenant love of God!
Every place where it feels dreary and dark I will invite Your light to shine. Every place where I cannot see a way out I will invite Your light to guide the way. Every place where my circumstances shout to convince me You will not come through I will look to the heavens where my help comes from!
