Ah, Lord God – Jeremiah and Kay Chance

 

Her name is known, but anything more about Kay Chance is a mystery, other than the song with her name attached to it. Actually, she did not originally write “Ah, Lord God”, but instead the weeping prophet Jeremiah (see him depicted in the 17^th Century Rembrandt artwork, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, here) did as a prayer to God (Jeremiah 32:17, 27); so, one more thing about which we can be certain is that Kay had opened her bible one day and was inspired to use Jeremiah’s opening words of a prayer as a musical echo of that ancient prophet’s verbalization of trust in the Lord. For her that day, perhaps Kay found something that washed over and covered her like a blanket when she read what Jeremiah had said to God in a most difficult and uncertain circumstance.  

 

Put yourself in Jeremiah’s shoes (or sandals) for a moment. What happened to him as chapter 32 of his prophecy opens must have seemed like a risky and unwise proposition. Jerusalem and what’s left of the southern kingdom (comprising the lands of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the Levites who served the Temple in Jerusalem) was already set to be overrun and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian horde (aka the Chaldeans), who had been besieging the city of David. And yet, God had already told Jeremiah to accept the offer to buy the field of his cousin Hanamel in Anathoth, Jeremiah’s hometown in Benjamin. What? Why? So my investment can go down the drain!? Talk about your insider trading tip – Jeremiah had the lowdown on what would happen, and yet God tells him to invest anyway. Make the deal official, with all the right documents signed in front of witnesses – what must those people have thought of Jeremiah’s business acumen! -- and have your trusted aide, Baruch, seal all of these deeds and other official papers in a clay jar for safekeeping. Jeremiah faithfully followed orders, despite what others may have thought. And then he prays, giving God his unswerving praise, but nevertheless concluding his prayer by seeming to ask for understanding – ‘why, Lord, did you want me to buy that field that is due to be overrun and fall into the hands of those wicked Chaldeans’? God does answer, reflecting back to Jeremiah a mirror-like question that echoes how Jeremiah’s prayer began -- “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (32:27) It’s as if God is reminding his prophet of his own words, and of his implicit trust just moments earlier as he lauded God’s might and purposeful conduct in saving his people from Egypt, and then in delivering their punishment for disobedience that had brought them to that point. ‘I will save them again, after this chastisement’, He replies. ‘Fields will (again) be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.’ (32:44) What Jeremiah came to understand was that what he did that day would foreshadow what God would do in a greater, broader way in the not-too distant future. Ah, Lord God, indeed!      

 

Jeremiah could not have been unaware that God’s tactical moves in shepherding His people, including His prophets, were part of a larger strategy that at the time seemed perplexing. Having His vision can seem like a bit of a stretch, if I’m honest. Faith is not an easy proposition, meaning that you might not have the reassurance right in front of you. And yet, knowing how God has worked among His people does tell me I need not be blind, either. I can see with other eyes, in my mind as I read about Him and reason out what His character calls me to believe and to do. It is having His Spirit that is most important. We don’t know any more information about Kay Chance and the episode in which she walked in 1976. But, she did know where to turn, in faith, to see how another faithful, trusting servant proceeded. He obeyed and then asked for understanding. That should tell you and me something about Him. It’s OK to have questions, as long as they aren’t tied to stubbornness, but rather to God-centered confidence.       

 

 

See information about the image here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_-_Jeremia_treurend_over_de_verwoesting_van_Jeruzalem_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg …The author died in 1669, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931….found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah

I Will Boast – Jeremiah, Paul, and Paul Baloche

What he had to say, the people did not like. In fact, Jeremiah the prophet (see depiction of Jeremiah [The Prophet Jeremiah (1511), from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo] here) did not much like what he had been given to tell the people of the southern kingdom of Judah either. ‘Don’t brag about yourself’ – that was the message that a descendant of this weeping prophet, someone named Paul, would recast some six centuries later, and which another Paul (Baloche) would repeat for us another 20 centuries later in history. If you want to brag, say “I Will Boast” because you know your Creator, the only righteous, just, and compassionate One, your Redeemer. You want His approval? Good, then practice those characteristics in your life, and see what that does for your outlook and rapport with Him and with others whom you know. It’s the only way to avoid eternal and terrestrial calamity, if you really take some time and think about what these three in history have had to say.

 

Jeremiah had the unenviable task during his prophetic mission (between 626 and sometime after 586 B.C., so around 40 years) of telling Judah’s inhabitants that doom was coming. Here’s a paraphrase of his message: ‘The land will be laid waste, and exile to Babylon awaits. If you want to prostrate yourselves and admit that you’ve violated the covenant with the Lord God, and reengage with the true One, here’s what you have to do, though your punishment cannot be avoided ultimately’. Then Jeremiah tells them in some short directives what Paul Baloche repeats in his musical rendition in 2006. Don’t boast in or count on the following: your wisdom, your strength, or your riches (Jeremiah 9:23-24). That covers an awful lot in the human experience, and the penchant to chase after these still entices a lot of people today, some 26 centuries after Jeremiah first delivered this rebuke. The great apostle Paul must have taken note of his ancestor’s words, for he too talks about boasting pretty frequently, and then tells his contemporaries in the first century that any such crowing should be exclusively connected with Christ. (Paul wrote at least nine times in five New Testament letters about boasting in Christ [Romans 5:11; 1 Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor. 10:14; 11:10; 12:9; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 1:26; 2:16; 3:3].) His namesake 2000 years hence has thus connected what Jeremiah said so long ago with the apostle’s instructions, in order to consummate some ordinances for a God follower’s lifestyle in our current era. The 21^st Century Paul links our boasting to being ‘humble’ and full of ‘thanks’ for Him because He created us in His image and has saved us (v.1 of  ‘I Will Boast’). So, boast in the ‘Lord’, the ‘worthy’ One, in fact ‘in Christ alone’, Paul Baloche says over and over. It never gets old.     

 

What Jeremiah says after his warning about the harlots of human wisdom, strength, and riches is fairly important also, and when lived out today are pretty meaningful. Paul Baloche mentions humility in his lyrics, versus what Jeremiah says in the latter words of his two verses – that kindness, justice, and righteousness are the ways to please God. It sounds a lot like what another prophet, Micah (6:6-8), had already said to the northern kingdom of Samaria approximately 100 years earlier (sometime between 750 and 686 B.C.), in his warning to those people of what was approaching. If worship – true worship – to the true God is not connected to heart-level attitudes like kindness (mercy), justice among people, and ability to humble oneself to Him, then all the sacrifices on earth you can make won’t matter to God. He’s a righteous God, Jeremiah said, and He expects His image-bearers to mimic Him in these key character traits that He gave to His prophets to tell us. Be kind, practice justice, and be humble, if you want to know what righteous living resembles. That is so needed today in early 2025, so get out there and boast in a shining Christ-likeness everyone…or will we need another weeping prophet to come preach?

 

Read about the contemporary author-composer here: Paul Baloche - Wikipedia 

 

See information on the image of Jeremiah here: File:Michelangelo Buonarroti 027.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.

O Draw Me Lord -- David Baroni

 

Is being near to God supposed to be easy? It won’t be as easy as drawing water from a well, something that Jesus once asked an outcast woman to do for Him (John 4:7). Perhaps this episode was still on the Master’s mind later when He talked to some others; could there have been some of those same people, or maybe others even later, who would say “O Draw Me Lord” as they prayed? That was in fact what the songwriter David Baroni was thinking some 20 centuries later when he paired these same words with music, perhaps while he was in his Nashville (see its seal here) home. Jesus’ encounter with a curious group of people, whom he suspected were looking for another miracle-inspired feast that He could have easily repeated, turned most of them into skeptics, even hostile scoffers. How did Jesus expect to engender their belief and devotion when He seemed to have a penchant for wild statements like what He uttered on this occasion? Could that have been His point, that He wants not just anyone, but someone who is really thirsty, someone who’s ready for radical commitment?     

 

 

The 39-year-old David Baroni (in 1997, when ‘O Draw Me Lord was included on an album) was evidently reading his bible one day, when he happened upon the chapter in which Jesus really tested the devotion of His followers with some very peculiar assertions about Himself (see John 6:25-59). It seemed like the more He talked, the deeper became the disdain of the people surrounding Jesus on this occasion. ‘I’m bread’, ‘my blood is real drink’, ‘you have to eat and drink me to have eternal life’, and finally – perhaps the one that most upset them – ‘I have come from heaven’. Their dubious reaction to His heaven-sent claim had Jesus tell them something else they did not appreciate: ‘Only my heavenly Father can draw you to me, and that will grant you a death-defying resurrection’(6:44). That mindboggling statement, if you can imagine someone who’d been known to others for 30 years saying this, must have made them gasp and maybe even snicker with derision. ‘Yeah, right Jesus – tell us another one!’ And He did. The only thing that makes this scene make sense, is that Jesus was omniscient, and thus He knew that He needed to upset their applecart about what they thought God was there to do for them. This conversation that John records for us must have lasted at least several minutes, probably in fact much more than the 9+ minutes that you can spend watching and listening to David Baroni sing the song (see link below). He sings the words over and over again, perhaps an unintentional metaphor for how challenging it might be for an individual or a group with preconceived notions about God’s nature to come near and receive His embrace. David indicates it is a prayer, and that God does want to ‘woo us’, and even allows us the grace to answer Him. Will it be easy? Do you and I need an encounter with Him, like the one with the crowd in the 1^st Century?

 

Even many of Jesus’ disciples found what Jesus had to say on this occasion pretty stunning, and difficult to accept (John 6:60-71). And yet, ‘to whom else shall we go?’, Peter said. Jesus said he’d draw people to Himself one other time (see also John 12:32), when He’d die. Very confusing and troubling – and yet Jesus doesn’t pull punches, does He? This God does want to enable our path to Him (see Jeremiah 31:3, and Hebrews 7:19; and Heb. 10:1,22). He’s not drawing us a physical map, but a heart-emanating call from Himself to you and me. David Baroni reminds us that the method hasn’t changed. Prayer can do an amazing thing, if you really want Him.  

 

See the composer/author comment on the song in the first 1:15 of this video: Bing Videos

 

See information about the author-composer here: About (davidbaroni.com)

 

More biography on the author-composer here: David Baroni | Discogs

 

This link indicates the song was on a 1997 album: Holy Fire | Christian Music Archive

 

See information on the seal of Nashville here: File:Seal of Nashville, Tennessee.png - Wikimedia Commons…This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1929 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart as well as a detailed definition of "publication" for public art. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.