Jeremiah 33:3
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
Thoughts from Katie Fox
Dive Deeper
Behind the Scenes
The book of Jeremiah was written around 667 BC by the prophet Jeremiah. Most scholars believe that Jeremiah started prophesying during the reign of King Josiah. One of the most prominent themes of this book was repentance from the worship of idols and dead religious works. God’s impending discipline was the captivity by the Babylonians.
The problem with the people of Judah and Jerusalem was that, even though they had been repeatedly warned, they refused to stop their disobedient ways. They chose not to seek God. They sought self-righteousness through idol worship and hollow, although seemingly “good”, religious acts and sacrifices.
Make it Real
God desires an intimate relationship with you, just as He did with the people of God in the time of Jeremiah. He does not desire our hollow religious works, nor will He accept second place in our lives; the worship of idols. In the New Testament Jesus calls his Disciples friends (John 15:5) and elsewhere is says that we have been adopted as sons and daughters and are now children of the Most High! (Ephesians 1:5, Galatians 3:14)
In Jeremiah chapter 33:2 God speaks to Jeremiah and gives him a name by which to cry out to Him. Most translations translate His name to “LORD,” but translated into Hebrew it would read “Yahweh”. This is the name of the God who created the heavens and the earth! And He gives us that name to call Him by! This is so exciting to me! God only tells His people, His children, His and friends to call Him by this name. God’s name, Yahweh, is only ever used in scripture to denote relationship!
Yahweh says to Jeremiah, “Call to me and I will answer you…” He desires for us to call out to him in our struggles, to draw near. “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it!” (John 14:14b) “I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” In John 15:15 Jesus calls us friends, not servants, because servants do not know the business of the master and Jesus has let us know all that the Father has told Him. Jesus desires to keep no secret from us, but wants to reveal Himself to us as our best friend and companion.
So, we have a choice to make. When we face difficulties of this world, we can either choose to fight it on our own or we can turn to Yahweh. We can call out to the God who invites us into an intimate relationship with Him.
Jesse Garnett
ACF Devo Team
End in Prayer
Yahweh!
Thank you that you asked me to call to you by your name! For there is no higher name in all creation than yours. I ask that you give me wisdom, mercy, strength, and grace to make it through the difficulties that this world throws my way. Please remind me to choose you daily, your will not my own. May I acknowledge my weakness and my inability to obtain the wisdom I need on my own. I ask that you search me and know me. I invite you into the deepest recesses of my hearts. Help me to hold nothing back from you. For I know (and let me continue to learn) that you are my treasure!
It’s in your wonderful name I pray, Yahweh,
Amen!