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Day 353 (Jeremiah 31:1-40) “At the same time,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.” Thus says the LORD, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness—Israel when I went to give him rest.” The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with lovingkindness, I have drawn you. Again, I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You will again be adorned with your tambourines and will go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. You will plant vines in the mountains of Samaria; the planters will plant and eat them as ordinary food. For there will be a day when the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’” For thus says the LORD, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!’ Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child, together; a great throng will return there. They will come with weeping, and with supplications, I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they will not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’ For the LORD redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than him. Therefore, they will come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the LORD—for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Then will the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow. I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.” Thus says the LORD, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.” Thus says the LORD, “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work will be rewarded, says the LORD, and they will come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children will come back to their own border. I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, ‘You chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for You are the LORD my God. After my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I remember him still; therefore, My heart yearns for him; I will have mercy on him, says the LORD. Set up signposts, make landmarks; set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to your cities. How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter? For the LORD created a new thing in the earth—a woman will encompass a man.” Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “They will again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities when I bring back their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, O home of justice, and the mountain of holiness!’ And there will dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” After this, I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me. “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. It will come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. In those days they will say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone will die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. No more will every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name). If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel will also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD. “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD. Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city will be built for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The surveyor’s line will again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it will turn toward Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.” When life is at its worst, you hope to see better days ahead soon. You don’t want to see your life get worse. In the middle of the prophecies God gave to Jeremiah, in the middle of Judah’s captivity to Babylon, God gave him hope that Israel would return to their home, and He would be their God. God even gave them a condition to His prophecy. He said that if heaven could be measured and the fountain beneath, then He would cast Israel from Him forever. No one can do that, so God will never cast His people permanently from Him. God said they would rejoice with singing when He returned them to their land. Many Christians take the promises God gave His people as theirs and eliminate Israel from God’s promises. God didn’t make His promises to anyone but His people. When you accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, only then did God’s promises include you because you are His child. Yet, God has never forsaken His people. He did everything He promised them. Israel returned home after seventy years, and never again has Israel left their homeland. You can rejoice and sing with shouts of joy because Jesus is your Savior. He will bring you out of your hardship, and plant you in a solid place. Then your heart will sing for joy because you know God will never leave you or forsake you, because just as God is the God of Israel, His chosen people, you are His child, and He will take care of you. Let’s pray: Father, thank you for making me Your child, for taking care of me, and for giving me the same promises You gave Your people. Help me remember You never forsook Your people and You never will. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 1 July 2023 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay