This is where the anticipation of diving into another morning’s set of readings comes from. These are the “surprises” for which you ask the Lord to “open my eyes that I might see wondrous things out of your law” (Ps. 119:18). These are the gems discovered where you least expect them . . . they are the treasures uncovered which, when beheld, emanate a beauty that causes you to sit back and simply say, “Wow!” and “Thank you, Lord”. This morning I found food in the Pasture of Righteousness.

Ok . . . context . . . Jeremiah 50 . . . the prophet, speaking the word of the Lord, is unloading on Babylon . . . just as he has on a number of other nations since chapter 46. Though God had allowed the Chaldeans of Babylon to be the instrument of His judgment upon idol worship, self-serving Judah, they weren’t “getting a by.” Babylon would know the wrath of God, as well . . . she would be judged for her sin . . . she would be plundered and laid waste because of her unrivaled arrogance and cruelty. . . “for she has proudly defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel” (50:29b).

And in the midst of her, were God’s exiled people . . . separated for a time from the land given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . cut off that they might be purged of their adulterous desire to worship other gods (which are no gods at all). The Lord says that His people were like lost sheep . . . that their shepherds had led them astray . . . causing them to forget their fold and lose their identity . . . aimlessly wandering such that “all who found them have devoured them” (50:6-7a) . . .

” . . . and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.'” (Jeremiah 50:7b ESV)

There it is! There’s the “surprise” . . . the gem that sparkles amidst the darkness of sin, wrath, and judgment . . . a treasure of life amidst a backdrop of destruction . . . it is “the LORD, their habitation of righteousness!” Yes!!!

What a great name for my God! In other places He is called a rock and a fortress (Ps. 18:2) . . . He is known as a “shield about me” (Ps. 3:3) . . . He is referred to as a “shade” that will keep me (Ps. 121:5) . . . and here, here He is a habitation . . . a dwelling place . . . an abode where the flock can abide. My God is a habitation . . . a pasture.

And, He is the pasture of righteousness. Righteousness is in Him and through Him . . . He is the Source of truth and justice . . . He is the standard of holiness . . . for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, He is One who will satisfy. And I’m invited to enter into this holy habitation through faith . . . to rest in it’s safety . . . to feed deep on the living water and living word contained therein . . . to enjoy “up close and personal” communion with the Shepherd of my soul. The way being opened for me through the Shepherd Himself . . . who gave His life for the sheep . . . that He might redeem the lost and wandering . . . that He might become for them a dwelling place.

Oh, how beautiful the name is “the LORD, their habitation of righteousness!” How it encompasses the salvation I have known . . . ” For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2Cor. 5:21 NKJV).

And I sit back and consider the “green pastures” He has allowed me to lie down in . . . the bedding of His holiness . . . the clothing of His righteousness . . . I sit back and say, “Wow!” . . . I look up (and bow down at the same time) and say, “Thank you, Lord!” And I enjoy . . . simply enjoy the presence of the Lord . . . and the Pasture of Righteousness He provides . . . thanking Him for His grace . . . ascribing to Him all the glory . . . amen.