Grace in the wilderness

Jeremiah 31:2-6

2 Thus says the Lord:

“The people who survived the sword

found grace in the wilderness;

when Israel sought for rest,

3 the Lord appeared to him from far away.

I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built,

O virgin Israel!

Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines

and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.

5 Again you shall plant vineyards

on the mountains of Samaria;

the planters shall plant

and shall enjoy the fruit.

6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call

in the hill country of Ephraim:

‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,

to the Lord our God.’ ”

I just love this passage and wanted to share it. Verse 2 has been mulling in my mind for a few weeks. I have escaped the sword of God's wrath through the cross of Christ, and found grace in the wilderness. I think the Christian life can be described as a continual receiving of grace in the wilderness for those who have survived the sword. The book of Jeremiah was written during the time of Judah's being driven into exile for their idolatry. In the midst of this, God speaks these words to his people - his filthy, undeserving, and rebellious people. The wilderness is the only possible place where a person can find grace, and God is the only one who can give it.

God gives grace in many forms

This is one of my favorite pictures of Cohen sleeping. He gets pretty creative with the positions, especially in this side-sleeping positioner we've been using. We've tried quite a few different positions, soothing techniques, and other various tricks in order to try to get him to go to sleep easier. Sometimes we are successful, but more often than not it takes 45+ minutes of soothing him to get him to sleep. Needless to say, this is exhausting! (I realize that some experienced parents would laugh at my thinking 45 minutes is a long time to sooth a baby, haha, but I'm still adjusting!)
As we've been launched head first into the world of parenting we've learned just how different babies can be. Between talking with friends and reading parents' stories in books and online we've seen quite a spectrum - from the baby that sleeps through the night on night-one to the baby that screams night and day for 9 months. Through hearing these stories, and through our experiences over the past 4 weeks we've been reminded that God's grace is tailor made for each of his children. It's not neither helpful nor honoring to the Lord to wish for the grace that he has given to someone else instead of accepting that grace that he is so kindly offering to you.

For some parents, their grace comes in the form of a baby that sleeps very well. This is a gift from God, and should be treated as such. For parents with colicky babies, God's grace comes in the form of his sustaining presence and comfort from his Word, a friend who drops by to help out just at the right time, parents who come to stay for a few days to do the cooking and cleaning and to help the baby when he cries, and on it goes.

I've struggled in the past with thinking that my life has been too easy, and that that must mean that God knows I don't trust him enough to go through something really hard. Ridiculous, I know. But in that pattern of thinking, I make the fundamental mistake of thinking that anyone has the strength to endure difficulty on their own. God gives all grace and strength, for all good things come from his hand. And for this, He is worthy of our highest praise and adoration.