They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. – Jeremiah 50:5

Today's Scripture Reading (August 2, 2023): Jeremiah 50

As I was reading some of the writings by Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon says that he rejoices in the old Scotch writings on covenant. And then he refers to the cottager's grace, a meal prayer prayed over the daily porridge. Spurgeon doesn't try to repeat the prayer in the old Doric, a Scottish dialect in which the prayer was initially prayed, but he gives us an English translation. "Lord, I thank thee for the porridge, I thank thee for an appetite for the porridge, but I thank thee most of all that I have a covenant right to the porridge" (Charles Spurgeon). Spurgeon then challenges his readers; "Only think of that, a covenant right to the porridge."

I must admit that as I read Spurgeon's words, I accepted the challenge. But I am not sure I got even close to what "a covenant right to the porridge" might mean. The closest I can get is that if we follow God, he has promised to care for us. Part of God's promise to us says that if we follow him, God will feed us, even if it is just the daily porridge. And that is where I think we sometimes get a little messed up. I remember an oil advertisement I watched on TV as a child. The ad took a piece of bread and butter, asserting that the local economy could supply the bread and butter of life. But the oil industry adds the jam, or maybe the meat that lives between the buttered slices of bread. Maybe the old Scottish grace reminds us that God will take care of our needs, although I think there will still be times when we can't afford the jam. Maybe it is in those moments that we thank God for our covenant right to the porridge or the buttered bread. Too often, we demand more from God than he has promised. Not that we will never have it, but much should remain a once-in-a-while treat in our lives and not a daily necessity.

Jeremiah speaks of the exiles returning home and starts by saying they will ask their way to Zion. I am unsure how the original readers might have interpreted that, but reading the words reminds me that many of the exiles who would return had never been there before. They would be the children and the grandchildren, maybe even the great-grandchildren of the people Nebuchadnezzar and his army had exiled.

But even more importantly, the remnant that would return would be making a significant sacrifice. The returning exiles would have to give up the nice things they would have had in the Persian Empire. And they would depend on the covenant of God for their needs as they returned home. They would trust in God and be obedient in returning to Judah, but at the same time, they would need to rest in the covenant, not that God would give them the desires of their hearts, but that they had a covenant right to their porridge.   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 51