Day 23 – Jeremiah 31:1-22
Today we see the verse I mentioned in the introduction to our study in context. God loves His people with an everlasting, steadfast love and He declares it in Jeremiah 31:3. I have always loved that verse. I love all the verses in this section because they are so filled with hope. And the kind of hope we have with God is a totally different strain than worldly hope.
Worldly hope often is wishing but doubting. I really hope it won’t rain on Tuesday, we say, having NO idea if that’s really gonna happen or not. Or I hope I win the prize! There’s nothing “sure” about this kind of hope. Therefore, it’s an uneasy hope. Part of us wants something good to happen and thinks it might, but another part of us is pretty sure we’re dreaming and whatever-we-wanted won’t happen at all.
This is not the kind of hope we have in God. Not at all. Our hope in God is sure because He always keeps His promises. We look forward to Heaven in a certain hope of its existence and reality! Romans 5:4-5 says this: “And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Godly hope does not disappoint, friends!
What Jeremiah describes in this part of scripture will happen someday. Can you just hear the yearning in God’s heart cry for His children to come home? Oh, Heaven is going to be something, isn’t it? We’ll be welcomed in and spend several centuries at least, I am sure, in constant awe of the beauty He has prepared for us, His beloveds! Jesus was so eager to go and “prepare a place” for His disciples so they could be with Him. That’s God’s goal and desire. That we would be with Him! We are so blessed to be His.
My verse: Jeremiah 31:8 “For I will bring them from the north and from the distant corners of the earth. I will not forget the blind and lame, the expectant mother and women in labor. A great company will return.”
My response: Father God, I love Your big yearning heart for Your people! I love that You never give up loving them and us. I love that no one is too inconvenient. You’ll notice the handicapped and the little babies in their mama’s wombs! And I love that verse 9 says You will lead these dear ones with “great care,” beside “quiet streams.” You never give up on Your own.
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My verse is 10 in the NLT.
Listen to this message from the Lord, you nations of the world;
proclaim it in distant coastlands: The Lord, who scattered His
people, will gather them and watch over them as a shepherd
does his flock.
Lord, thank You for this assurance that You will never let
Your people out of Your care and that we will all be together
with You one day.
I love that He gathers us in and that one day we will be one happy flock!