Thursday 24th September
Read Jeremiah 10:11-13
“‘Tell them this: “These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”’
12 But God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.” (NIVUK)
Sometimes there are passages we encounter that make us wonder about an absence.
On the surface the theme of the passage continues unabated and uninterrupted. Jeremiah is mocking the impermanence and temporality of the idols (v11). They are puny and will be destroyed. He then continues his psalm in praise of Yahweh and His power in contrast to their weakness (v12-13).
But niggling away is an absence. In the early chapters of Jeremiah he regularly draws our attention to the power of God’s words by comparing them with His creative prowess. The heavens and the earth and the creation thereof signal His wisdom, power and strength. This language in the hands of other biblical writers signals the presence of the Spirit in creative power and purpose.
Yet for Jeremiah, ‘wind’ is simply wind – not a metaphor for the work of God’s Spirit. Jeremiah teases us with deliberate echoes of the Spirit and links His activity to the power of God’s transforming word. A word that declares idols are puny and powerless and will be cast down.
The absence of the renewing creative and life-giving power of the Spirit in Jeremiah (in contrast to Isaiah and Ezekiel) has confused many and caused them to denigrate the worth of Jeremiah. Yet by linking the work of the Spirit to the power of God’s word Jeremiah reshapes our understanding and challenges us to focus on God’s words more consciously.
In John 6 we read of Jesus walking upon these wind-tossed dark and stormy waters to His disciples – who were understandably terrified (John 6:16-21). The Master of creation demonstrating the power Jeremiah has just invoked. The passage concludes with Jesus’ reflection on Word and Spirit… “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of the Spirit and life.” (John 6:63) (NIVUK).
The ‘absence’ of the Spirit in Jeremiah’s psalms is resolved in the person, and words, of Jesus…
