Being Human

Jeremiah 10:1-11:23

Colossians 3:18-4:18

Psalm 78:56-72

Proverbs 24:28-29

23 I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.

      We are not able to plan our own course.

 24 So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.

      Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.

I love the gentleness of Jeremiah that comes across in these words there is a real awareness in his writings of being a simple human being caught up in a huge storm of historical events.  There have been so many times over the last months that I have heard people say, “I’ve stopped listening to the news or reading the papers, it’s all got too depressing.”  We feel that same sense that Jeremiah had that our lives are not our own, we are unable to plan our own courses.

His prayer that follows this is simple but heartfelt.  Please God correct me and help me to be right in this mess that we are in but when you do it be gentle.  I can cope with that sort of faith.  God make me a better person but please do it gently as I am weak and I am afraid that I might break in the process.  It reminds me of Psalm 103 that says –

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

       so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

 14 for he knows how we are formed,

       he remembers that we are dust.

 15 As for man, his days are like grass,

       he flourishes like a flower of the field;

 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,

       and its place remembers it no more.