August 15, 2017. Jeremiah 30-31.

In Order. Human

Humans, we think we know everything. We think we know what is best for ourselves. Here is a shocker: we don’t. We know nothing. We are naïve and blind to what we really do need.  God probably looks at us as teenagers with those smart aleck comments and us rolling our eyes at him.  And just as a teenager may need a rude awakening and some discipline, so do we at times. 

A great example of this is found in Jeremiah 31:18-20

18 “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God.

19  After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

20 Is not Ephraim my dear son the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him.  Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord.

Ephraim acknowledges that he deserved the discipline and the consequences, he admits his wrongs and repents.  The Lord understands he has made mistakes and yet he still loves him, he yearns for him. 

Have you ever made a mistake in life and thought, “wow, there is no coming back from that?” Or have you ever had someone wrong you in such a way that you said you could never forgive him or her? Imagine how Christ must feel watching us sin over and over again, making the same mistakes we’ve already done.  There will be consequences and we may be disciplined, but it is for our own good. God loves us so much he actually yearns for us to be by his side.  He loves us so much, he sent his one and only son to die for our sins, to take on the ultimate consequence and punishment for our sins.  And all he asks of us? To be his people, and for him to our God.

Jeremiah 30:22

“’So you will be my people, and I will be your God.’”

Jeremiah 31:1

“At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

Jeremiah 31:33

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The Lord wants you to know him, but understands we are human and we make mistakes.  But, and here is the awesome part, he will forgive us.

Jeremiah 31:34

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”