Victorious Life

Jeremiah 1:10
See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”

Have you ever watched one of those home improvement shows? The ones where they take an old house that is just about falling apart and they remake it into something amazingly modern and beautiful? I have not only watched this on TV but also lived it. Noemi and I did such a renovation on our house in Naples. It is an amazing feeling when the work is finished and you stand back and see the end result.

Now, do a fast rewind to several months before. All of the work that was done at that time can be described by the words of the Lord to Jeremiah, “pull down, destroy, and throw down.” Hammers, crowbars and saws are gutting this whole house and it seemed we were bent on its destruction. This is the demolition phase of a renovation.

Now, just for a moment put yourself in the place of that house. If a house could think and reason, what would it be thinking? Can you imagine how it might despair at the horrible things it is enduring at the hands of those it sought to serve? Let me ask you one more question — have you ever felt as if God was doing just that in your life? As if God is bent on pulling down, destroying and throwing down everything in your life? I know I have felt that way!

Well, here’s the truth we need to learn about building and about planting—neither can happen without some destruction or rooting out. Even in the case of new construction this is true. The house I now live in was built for us in 2003. Prior to that our lot was full of trees and rocks, nothing more. Machines had to come and take down all the trees, dig into the ground and uproot all of the root systems of those trees and remove any large stones that there may have been in the ground. The same thing happens when planting. Noemi loves to plant; she has an amazing “green thumb.” But each time she has to plant something, we have to dig into the ground, remove sod, stones, roots; we have to prepare the ground. She does this because she has a plan, a blueprint of a beautiful garden. The truth is that quite often, the better the quality of what is being built, the deeper and more radical the demolition must be.

So if, as I said earlier, it seems that God is “pulling down, destroying and throwing down” everything in your life, please be encouraged by this: if God didn’t have a plan to do something beautiful and precious in your life, He would have just lit a stick of dynamite under you and been done with it. The fact that He is strategically pulling things down, means that He will tenderly and lovingly build on that very place. The fact that He is strategically uprooting, means that He will lovingly plant on that very place.

Listen to the words of Peter in 1 Peter 2:5, “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” God is building you up to be a spiritual house; the very temple and place of His dwelling. Now I know that during the demolition phase it may seem a waste that perfectly functional things are destroyed and thrown out. But think of a beautiful new kitchen with gorgeous new cabinets, new floor, new lighting and a twenty-year-old refrigerator. It may still work but, boy what an eyesore!

Listen, I do not make light of what we go through during these times. The pain, the frustration, the time spent wondering if maybe we have done something wrong and are being punished; all of that is very real when you are going through times like these. However, I want to encourage you with the words of Paul in Romans 8:18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Hang in there, God has the blueprint for glory in your life and mine, and the day will come when you see the finished product and say, “Yes, it was worth it!”

Filed under: Faith