The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a branch of an almond tree.’*12Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching* over my word to perform it.’
Jeremiah 1:11-12
In English this passage from Jeremiah doesn’t make a lot of sense. But the word for the flowering almond in Hebrew is “watch”. So God is playing a little word game with Jeremiah. There are actually a lot of puns and plays on words in the Old Testament. The almond tree flowers in early spring. When you see the almond tree flower, you know that spring is coming. You can count on it. Like the crocus here. They may be buried in snow, you may still be wearing your boots and coat but when you see the crocus, you know that it will not be winter forever. Spring will come. The crocus and flowering almond are signs of that promise.
In the same God’s promise of his love and care and redemption can be counted on. Although we look around and see injustice and pain and darkness, God is with us and watches over us. We can count on that as sure as we can count on spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment