A Ludicrous Investment

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading titled A Ludicrous Investment was written by Wynn Collier. In 1929, as the U.S. economy crashed, millions of people lost everything. But not Floyd Odlam. As everyone else panicked and sold their stocks at cut-ray prices, Odlam appeared to foolishly jump in and purchase stocks just as the nation's future disintegrated.

But Odlam's foolish perspective paid off, yielding robust investments that endured for decades. In Jeremiah 32, God told Jeremiah to make what seemed like an absolutely ludicrous investment. Buy the field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

This was no time to be buying fields, however. The entire country was on the verge of being ransacked. The army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem. And whatever field Jeremiah purchased would soon be Babylon's. What fool makes an investment when everything would soon be lost? Well, the person who's listening to God.

The one who intended a future no one else could envision. In Jeremiah 32, 15, we read, This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land. God saw more than the ruin. God promised to bring redemption, healing, and restoration. A ludicrous investment in a relationship or service for God isn't foolish. It's the wisest possible move when God leads us to make it, and it's essential that we prayerfully seek to know He's behind the instruction. A foolish investment in others as God leads makes all the sense in the world. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Jeremiah 32, verses 6-15.

Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me. Hanamel, son of Shalom your uncle, is going to come to you and say, Buy my field at Anathoth, because, as nearest relative, it is your right and duty to buy it. Then, just as the Lord had said, My cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.

I knew that this was the word of the Lord. So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deed of purchase, the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy, and I gave this deed to Baruch, son of Neriah, the son of Messiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, and of the witness who had signed the deed, and all of the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard. In their presence, I gave Baruch these instructions. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says.

Take these documents, both the sealed and the unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar, so they will last a long time. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, when everything around us comes crashing down, so often we withdraw into ourselves and seek to protect what we have, rather than seek what you have for us. Help us to look to you for all we need in life, and to invest in the people and things that please you. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.