Return....
Jeremiah 3:11-18 The Lord said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. [12] Go, proclaim this message towards the north:
" 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the Lord,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,' declares the Lord,
'I will not be angry for ever.
[13] Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favours to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,' "
declares the Lord.
[14] "Return, faithless people," declares the Lord, "for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. [15] Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. [16] In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land," declares the Lord, "men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. [17] At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honour the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. [18] In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.
So although God is acting to judge the people of Judah, his anger is tempererd by compassion. He tells Jeremiah to speak to the North, the place where the Kingdom of Israel once stood, and give this oracle.
God is love. This quality runs through all his actions towards us. And though we may not fathom the mysteries of exactly how God is able to act so compassionately towards people like us who rebel against him, it at least gives us an insight into why. Israel had been faithless. They had abandoned him and turned to worship idols. Even the ministries of Elijah and Elisha had not turned them back to God for long. But even now that they are far from him, in fact scattered amongst the nations, he yearns for them to come back. If they face up to those acts which have led them away from God, then he will welcome them back with open arms.
He is like that for us too, as individuals and not just nations. Sometimes we realise that we are far from the loving father, that our actions have separated us from him. We may, like Israel, have defiled his name and ‘prostituted’ ourselves to the world and its idols. But God’s compassion speaks here. There is no place we can get to that God will not come looking for us, no distance we can travel from God that he cannot call us back, no journey of destruction that we can embark on that he will not be constantly inviting us home. When we come before the loving Father, maybe to confess some of our wrong doings, remember that God’s compassion for those who seek forgiveness far, far outweighs any wrath he may have. There is always a way back….
" 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the Lord,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,' declares the Lord,
'I will not be angry for ever.
[13] Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favours to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,' "
declares the Lord.
[14] "Return, faithless people," declares the Lord, "for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. [15] Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. [16] In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land," declares the Lord, "men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. [17] At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honour the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. [18] In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.
So although God is acting to judge the people of Judah, his anger is tempererd by compassion. He tells Jeremiah to speak to the North, the place where the Kingdom of Israel once stood, and give this oracle.
God is love. This quality runs through all his actions towards us. And though we may not fathom the mysteries of exactly how God is able to act so compassionately towards people like us who rebel against him, it at least gives us an insight into why. Israel had been faithless. They had abandoned him and turned to worship idols. Even the ministries of Elijah and Elisha had not turned them back to God for long. But even now that they are far from him, in fact scattered amongst the nations, he yearns for them to come back. If they face up to those acts which have led them away from God, then he will welcome them back with open arms.
He is like that for us too, as individuals and not just nations. Sometimes we realise that we are far from the loving father, that our actions have separated us from him. We may, like Israel, have defiled his name and ‘prostituted’ ourselves to the world and its idols. But God’s compassion speaks here. There is no place we can get to that God will not come looking for us, no distance we can travel from God that he cannot call us back, no journey of destruction that we can embark on that he will not be constantly inviting us home. When we come before the loving Father, maybe to confess some of our wrong doings, remember that God’s compassion for those who seek forgiveness far, far outweighs any wrath he may have. There is always a way back….
posted by Gordon at
10:18 am
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