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In Jeremiah 13:11 God says, “For as the belt clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares Yahweh, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for a name, for praise, and for beauty; but they did not listen.’” He says, “I’ve created you to be close to Me, to cling to Me.”

If you’re in a tough spot, if you’re suffering with anxiety or fear or doubt or confusion, you know what you need to do? Cling to Jesus! Get closer! “No, I can’t get any closer,” you might think. Yes, you can get closer. Get as close as you can in this world, and then when He calls you home, you’ll be even closer.

And here is the beauty in that closeness. He says “that they might be for me, a people, for a name, for praise, and for beauty. But they did not listen.” What did the people miss by walking in the stubbornness of their heart? They missed what it meant to be the people of God. So often, we label everything, and we’ve got our camp and that camp, and everybody talks about tribalism and everybody likes to have a label. Again, I love it that Spurgeon said, if you’ve got to call me something, call me a Christian. If you’ve got to go any further than that, we’re probably going to get in trouble because then we start to draw lines and we start to see where we disagree. God warns us about causing dissension in the church.

By the way, truth will divide because truth divides right from wrong, truth from error. But we don’t need to be looking for ways to cause dissension. We are the people of God. When you meet other people who are members of other churches, who are Christians, do you rejoice to have met another Christian? Sadly, too often in the Reformed world, the first thought is, “I’d never go to that church.” You see where our mind goes? Our mind immediately goes to what separates us when what is Christ praying when He’s praying His high priestly prayer in John 17? He’s praying for the unity that God promised. He’s praying for us as the body to have the unity that He and the Father have.

Now, are we going to accomplish that in this world? The new earth? Yes. Here and now, we’re going to struggle because we are sinful people. The first thing we do when we meet somebody new is we compare them to ourselves. How do you compare to me? We do that, right? When we look at people, we compare them. We start to think, what’s good, what’s bad, what do I like, what do I don’t like? And then we chalk it up to personality differences. It’s not a personality difference. That’s sin in your heart. Against your brother and against your sister. Yes, be discerning. Don’t take everybody’s confession at its face value. But if somebody tells you that they’re a Christian, rejoice. Say, “So am I,” and then ask them to explain the Gospel to you. And if they don’t want to do that and they don’t want to talk about Jesus, they’re probably not what they’re confessing because Christians love to tell the story. They love to talk about Christ.

Here’s the beauty. When you cling to Christ and when you’re near to Him, He says, I’m doing this so that you might have a name. What is the name? Well, it’s not my name and it’s not your name. It’s the name of Jesus. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know.” It’s His name. It was interesting when God came to Moses and told him who He was and who He was to tell the people He was, He said He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He said that He didn’t reveal Himself to them by His name. When Moses comes to go deliver the people because they’ve cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, now Moses is going to come to them and give them His name. “I am that I am.” Yahweh. He exists. He is. That’s His name. I Am. And now His people are not just going to pray to Him and not just know about Him, now they’re going to know His name. This is His name.

He says, “I’m going to do this for praise.” You’re going to be close to Me for praise. Does it not drive you to praise God the closer you are to Him? And do you not also see in your life that the further away from Him you walk, the less you praise Him? Why? Because we’re built to worship, but worship requires fellowship. It requires nurturing that relationship. Worship is communion with God. And that leads us to praise. You can’t be close to Him and not praise Him. When you’re close to Him, you know He is the rock of ages. You know He is your refuge. You know He is your strong tower. You know that He is your God and your Savior and your substitute. And so you praise Him for who He is.

The closer we get to Him, the less we may praise for what He’s done, and the more we will praise Him just for who He is. When you praise, it’s good to praise God for what He’s done. David does this throughout the Psalms, but here’s where we have to be careful. Don’t praise God for what He’s done because of the benefit to you, because then the focus is on you and the benefit you get. Praise Him that He’s done what He’s done for you because of who He is, so that He did all the glory for His name.

What do we boast in? We are commanded to boast in the cross and in Christ, and Paul says, boast in your infirmities. Well, that’s just crazy. Why would I boast in these things that drive me crazy? Because those are the things that drive you closer to Him.

He also says, being able to cling to Me and be closer to Me, this is for beauty, to see the beauty of the Lord, to see beauty in the creation. Creation declares the glory of God. He’s created it and it’s beautiful. Sometimes you look at it and creation is awesome. Look at creation, and if you are not moved to praise God and to glorify God in the beauty you see in creation, open your eyes. Now, part of what we’ve seen, we’ve talked about this with a group of artists serving the church, what we’ve seen in architecture and art in western civilization, as we’ve moved away from the gospel, things aren’t pretty anymore. Buildings are just utilitarian. Look at the great cathedrals in history. Look at the great art, the stained glass. Look at what it used to mean to identify yourself as a follower of God.

This beauty that our world is missing, it’s missing because we have moved away from God. When we are close to Him, we find the beauty. And here’s the truth, the closer we get to Him, the things that weren’t beautiful to us become beautiful to us. That’s what He says in His Word. He makes “all things beautiful in His time.” Those things that hurt you. Those things you suffered through. Those things that drove you crazy. Those nights when you wondered, where is God in all of this?

We have a guarantee from Scripture. Get close enough to Him and it will all be beautiful. Why? Because He’s going to be able to take it all and work it out for His glory and our good. And I promise we can’t comprehend that because we look at some things that have happened in our lives and we think, how could that ever be considered good or glorifying to God? But that’s His promise and He keeps His Word. That’s how powerful He is. He can bring beauty out of the ashes.

Now this is the promise. I made you to cling to Me so that you could be a people and have a name and for praise and for beauty. Cling to Christ!