Solve My Riddle

Earlier this morning, my kids were talking about Dora the Explorer.  This is mostly funny, because my youngest child is seven, and Dora is definitely preschool material.  They were actually talking about how everyone in our family had outgrown Dora, but how we appreciate the very rudimentary Spanish vocabulary we have retained from years upon years of episodes.  Stay with me…

I wrote the post below and am just adding these introductory paragraphs, because by the time I finished rolling my eyes and shaking my head at the daily office, I was back to thinking about Dora; or, more specifically, the character of the grumpy old troll who lives under the bridge. 

“Solve my riddle…”

I think this has been my heart’s cry for awhile now.  I am a problem solver by nature, and I’m good at it, but lately my own conundrums can be unthinkably baffling.

This is the first time I ever recall reading the daily office and thinking to myself, “I’d better go find the alternate reading…”

Jeremiah 42:22, “So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle” (NIV).

Seriously?

I mean, of course there’s context, but after the week I’ve had, I was just stunned.  I’ll take the Psalm.  Please, give me the Psalm, today…

Psalm 6:1-9, “Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer” (NIV).

Well, that’s better… lament...

Also, there’s an alternative Scripture where Jeremiah is thrown into a cistern to die… but then he’s rescued…

I’ve been shaking my head for days… followed by crying… followed by more head shaking.  I have exactly no idea how my heart can feel so incredibly empty while bursting at the seams in anticipation of fullness. 

Oh…  I think I just read this in a completely different light.  To settle can carry multiple meanings…

L.