Let the Thanks Come Out! #12

We have seen in an earlier session that Jeremiah, the weeping prophet of all people, gives messages that call us to thanksgiving. In Jeremiah 33, he is in jail, hearing reports of the city crumbling under the seige of the armies of Babylon, when God speaks through him: 

10 “Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again 11 the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord:
“‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
    for the Lord is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!’
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

12 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks. 13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

Even when everything falls apart, including the walls, the steadfast love of the Lord is there. Even when the sheepfold is empty and the cupboard is bare, the steadfast love of the Lord is there.  He can put it all back together again. He is the Good God who is able to restore.  Giving thanks is letting go. When we have something to give as a sign of our thanks - and the thank offering was giving something that is important to us - when we let it go the joy of thanksgiving fills our hearts. But even if we have little or nothing to give as an offering of thanksgiving, when we give ourselves and our voices to thanksgiving, the hope and joy and love of the Lord can and will still fill us.  The Lord told Jeremiah and His people that yes, even when it seems you've lost it all, the Lord is Good: His steadfast love endures. He will restore.