To whom do we run?

The world is in pain. Hurricanes blow into the Gulf of Mexico with terrifying ferocity and with devastating effect. Earthquakes afflict the poor and lost. Tsunamis take the lives a tens of thousands. We kill our own. Our lives are taken without warning and without dignity. Jeremiah cries out to God:

Have you utterly rejected Judah?
Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD,
and the iniquity of our fathers,
for we have sinned against you.
Do not spurn us, for your name's sake;
do not dishonor your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.
Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O LORD our God?
We set our hope on you,
for you do all these things.
Jeremiah 14:19-22 (ESV)

When will the pain end?

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”
Jeremiah 23:5-8 (ESV)

When God chooses to show the world the deliverance mechanism he set in motion well before time began. When Jesus returns. When Jesus, the righteous Branch of David, reigns as king and deals wisely and executes justice and righteousness in the land and when his chosen people, the New Israel shall dwell in their own land, in their rest. Make no mistake, we Christians are God's chosen people:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV)

And we will inherit a rest that never ends through Jesus Christ:

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:8-10 (ESV)

I am reminded by the words of the old hymn "The Solid Rock" by John Dykes:

1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds with the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found:
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

To whom do we run?

The world is in pain. Hurricanes blow into the Gulf of Mexico with terrifying ferocity and with devastating effect. Earthquakes afflict the poor and lost. Tsunamis take the lives a tens of thousands. We kill our own. Our lives are taken without warning and without dignity. Jeremiah cries out to God:

Have you utterly rejected Judah?
Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD,
and the iniquity of our fathers,
for we have sinned against you.
Do not spurn us, for your name's sake;
do not dishonor your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.
Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O LORD our God?
We set our hope on you,
for you do all these things.
Jeremiah 14:19-22 (ESV)

When will the pain end?

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”
Jeremiah 23:5-8 (ESV)

When God chooses to show the world the deliverance mechanism he set in motion well before time began. When Jesus returns. When Jesus, the righteous Branch of David, reigns as king and deals wisely and executes justice and righteousness in the land and when his chosen people, the New Israel shall dwell in their own land, in their rest. Make no mistake, we Christians are God's chosen people:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV)

And we will inherit a rest that never ends through Jesus Christ:

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:8-10 (ESV)

I am reminded by the words of the old hymn "The Solid Rock" by John Dykes:

1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds with the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found:
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid Rock I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.