Jeremiah 31:31-34
I have been known to utter the often misunderstood (even by myself) words, "It's all good." As in when someone shows me sympathy after some tragedy or failure. "It's all good!" Or when some conundrum confounds us as we survey the vast diversity of Christianity and humankind. "It's all good." There is an aspect of "Who cares?!" in those three words. There is also a happy hopefulness that somehow all things beyond our control and comprehension will be taken care of and come together in the end, kind of like how the disparate threads of a good story seem to go on in opposing directions, yet somehow the author tied everything together in a way that makes perfect sense (i.e. Harry Potter).
God has made it clear from very early on that all the crazy plot twists and turns in the tale of our lives and the history of existence WILL come together in the end in a way that is fulfilling to every development and chapter along the path. We are living this grand story of mythic proportions, in which God is both author and main character. His message to and through the prophet Jeremiah is one of good news. God will make things work out. We can't predict how because we are living in the middle chapters. Pick a good book or movie and find what's happening in the middle. It won't be good. The darkest times happen in the middle, though certainly by that point the goal is somewhat visible, if foreseeably impossible to reach.
God tells us there will be a time when we will not have to teach anyone about God because we will all know God... now that's cool! Then, It ALL will be good (and I can be justified in my use of the phrase)! Imagine: everyone knowing God... so much we won't be in need to spread this word! The world is divided right now (in Christianity and among Christians too) between the house of Israel and the house of Judah, whatever those symbolize for us (it matters not in the end). God will make his new covenant with both houses and they will become one again. All of us believers will be reunited and understand one another as we should. No more will we distort each other's intentions by claiming to know what we do not. God will forgive our pride and our weakness and embrace us into his large family.
It takes a tremendous level of faith to believe that all people will be united in God and that the distances that divide all of us and God will be crossed, but our stories speak to it. Human creations hail the truth of the divine story just as the Bible perfectly does so. The question that remains is how we will live out our part of the tale. Will we be a dark spot in the story that future generations will want to skip over, or will we with Christ live out his salvation in every way, a foretaste of what is to come...?
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