Faith (When It Doesn’t Make Sense)

At the end of the book of Jeremiah, we find a group of people looking for things to make sense. 

Jeremiah had spent his life warning the people that they must repent and turn back to the Lord, only to watch them continually despise God’s commands. 

True to His Word, God allows the land to be conquered and the people to be exiled. 

Having been brutally beaten more than once, and despised by most, Jeremiah still remained among the scraggly bunch of survivors who were allowed to stay in Judah to care for the crops. After experiencing even more leadership turmoil, we see this group of survivors approach the prophet to ask for his advice. 

They want to know what they should do now.

 Are they safe?  

What will happen next? 

Should they stay or should they go?

“Then they said to Jeremiah, ‘May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us. Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 42:5-6 ESV).

These survivors have experienced the horrors of war, and they have also seen Jeremiah’s predictions actually come to fruition. Surely, this has impacted their hearts. After such a long book of devastation and loss, how beautiful to see true repentance and faith. 

Except, that is not quite how things unfold. 

Jeremiah prays to the Lord and asks for wisdom and mercy. The Lord answers and tells the people not to be afraid and not to run away, but to stay in the land and simply trust Him (Jeremiah 42:9-22).

Stay where you are. 

Trust Me. 

Will you trust me with all of your heart?

Will you stop leaning on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6)?

In chapter 43 we see the response of the scraggly survivors: 

“…all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, ‘You are telling a lie’…all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah” (Jeremiah 43:2, 4).

After all that they had experienced, the survivors still would not choose to trust the Lord. Instead, they chose to trust the way that seemed to make the most sense. They fled to Egypt, where they were promised further disaster. 

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

It would be easy to read this account and point out the stubborn foolishness of this particular group of people, but the truth is that this tendency is lurking in all of us. 

We just want life to make sense. 

“None of it really makes any rational sense to us, that the God of the universe would willingly endure so much on our behalf. 

Thank God, it made perfect sense to Him.”

We want our bodies to work without pain. We want our bank accounts to be full (enough). We want our jobs to be pleasant, our churches to flourish, our families to thrive. And when there is a problem, we want to take sensible steps to address issues and go about setting everything right. 

We don’t want to have to up and move to foreign lands like Abraham, or lead a group of grumblers like Moses, wrestle with the brokenness of this world like Hannah, or endure any of the hardships which a young, pregnant, unmarried woman, Mary, the mother of Jesus, must have faced. 

Suffering is not a factor in our sensible equation. 

We would just like to work moderately hard, stay in our own lanes, and experience peaceful lives, thank you very much. 

This time of year we focus on the merciful absurdity of the Incarnation - the Son of God choosing the limits of a human body. It does not make sense that He would leave perfect communion with the Father and the Spirit to live in a body that would break, in a world that is utterly devastated, among people who would despise Him.  

“Following Christ means walking in obedience in ways the world will not understand. It means submitting to God’s Word when culture says it is outdated and unpopular. Trusting the Lord requires something of us. Being a Christian is not a passive identity.” 

Jesus, the Son of God, did not choose wealth, safety, or security. He did not position Himself in a lofty castle on earth surrounded by servants, allowing only the elite access. Instead, Jesus was intentionally born into a family considered to be poor. While the heavens rejoiced at His birth, few on earth recognized His arrival. Jesus did not seek greatness, position, or status. He served in obscurity and loved in ways that were radically unconventional. Through His life, death, and resurrection, we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14).

None of it really makes any rational sense to us, that the God of the universe would willingly endure so much on our behalf. 

Thank God, it made perfect sense to Him.

Following Christ means walking in obedience in ways the world will not understand. It means submitting to God’s Word when culture says it is outdated and unpopular. Trusting the Lord requires something of us. Being a Christian is not a passive identity. 

Is faith just a word in our lives or is it a muscle that we exercise?

When was the last time that you trusted the Lord in a way that it cost you something?

 Is there an area in your life where the Lord is challenging you to trust Him, even though it just doesn’t make sense?

Jess Proudfoot is an urban missionary in New Bedford, MA. She is part of the church planting team and also serves as the Director of Women’s Ministries at Grace Harbor Church in New Bedford.