Through the Refining Fires of Affliction to the New Life of Spiritual Spring:
REST, VESSEL. ~ “Requies, Vas.” ~ A VESSEL RESTS.
Has God Our Sovereign Savior allowed unfathomable pain in your life beyond human utterance? If so, take refuge in His paradoxical, great divine work of love and grace. When fiery afflictions come, He is our only hiding place.
The Thorn in the Flesh7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. II Corinthians 12:7-11
STANZA 15
•Jehovah Rapha, Great Physician—He,
Bitter Waters Made Sweet 25bThere He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” Exodus 15:25b-26
“God has the power and the mercy to heal. He alone can heal in the peace of His salvation. To the prayer of anguish, God responds. Healing from the damage inflicted by sin and death will come through the Lord’s Anointed, by whose wounds we are healed.” (Reformation Study Bible Commentary: Exodus 15:25b-26)
•The only Healer chose so graciously
Jesus Cleanses a Leper12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. Luke 5:12-13
God is Sovereign, orchestrating all of the happenings in human history. By His supreme wisdom, as He did with the pleading leper, He graciously and willingly chooses who, when, and how He will heal and make clean. (Luke 5:12-13)
•To uncover a need understood well,
Restoration of Israel and Judah ‘
Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; Those who plunder you shall become plunder, And all who prey upon you I will make a prey.
For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; No one seeks her.” ’ Jeremiah 30:16-17
My Son, Be Wise
Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel…As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man. Proverbs 27:9, 17, 19
By God’s grace and sanctifying Spirit, after delivering us from our oppressors, He restores His beloved to health and heals our wounds. By God’s lovingkindness, when one man’s heart, character, and needs are revealed in a well understood manner to another, the two friends may counsel, comfort, and sharpen one another. (Jeremiah 30:16-17)
•Familiar language…sought to bear the fell.
Excellence of the Restored Nation 1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name): 3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
4 “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword: 5 ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. 6 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7 And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. 8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. 9 Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’
10 “Thus says the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, 11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:
“Praise the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good, For His mercy endures forever” and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.
12 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the Lord.—
14 ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:
15 ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
16 In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called:THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ Jeremiah 33:1-16
In the midst of earthly assault, losses, captivity, and grief—familiar language—we can call to God on our own behalf and on behalf of others! He will answer us and show us great, unsearchable, mighty, hidden things we do not yet know. His judgment, peace, truth, joy, praise, honor, goodness, redemption, salvation, righteousness, and glory will be revealed. God will rebuild His people and restore them to safety. (Jeremiah 33:1-16)
