Stroll through Scripture for July 20, 2025

Based on Jeremiah 33:14-18; 31:31-34

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”. Do we even need to read the rest?  God has spoken.  It’s going to happen.  You can count on it.  

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”  These are words of hope and promise.  These are words that should fill every believer’s heart with joy and lift our spirits.  

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”. I’m so glad we are at this point in Jeremiah where we hear good news.   We have gone through so much with this prophet over the last several weeks – exile, siege, house arrest.   It’s been all doom and gloom.   But now, God has something to day about the days that are surely coming.  

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”.  You can count on it.  It’s as good as already done.  No empire can stand in the way.  No power can either.  Nothing can stop what God has planned.  No ruler, no army.  No amount of cruelty or violence.  They all fall apart before a confrontation can even happen.  

All that in the first line of this Sunday’s reading.  

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”.  Those are welcome words in a world and culture that often takes the Lord’s name in vein.  Not by using God’s name as a swear word, but rather, by using God’s name for its own purposes, as if God is made in humanity’s image and can be told what to do, what to believe, and more.  It’s a rather small and unimpressive deity that believes the same thing as you, hates the same people as you, and thinks just like you.  That’s no deity at all, that’s a person calling themselves a god.   But that’s not how it works.  

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”. Look out.  God is on the move.  God is not content to just sit back and let abuse and injustice continue.   God is not going to be passive either.  God has made a promise and God fulfills God’s promises.  

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord…”.  The only appropriate response to such a statement is “Amen.”  

Questions for further reflection:

• Where have you witnessed “the days are surely coming, says the Lord…”?  What did it look like?  What was the situation?  
• What days are surely coming for us in our time and context?  What is God saying in the midst of exile and siege?  What is God’s promise for us?