Jeremiah 32:37-41
“Watch for this! I will collect them from all the countries to which I will have driven them in my anger and rage and indignation. Yes, I’ll bring them all back to this place and let them live here in peace. They will be my people, I will be their God. I’ll make them of one mind and heart, always honoring me, so that they can live good and whole lives, they and their children after them. What’s more, I’ll make a covenant with them that will last forever, a covenant to stick with them no matter what, and work for their good. I’ll fill their hearts with a deep respect for me so they’ll not even think of turning away from me. Oh how I’ll rejoice in them! Oh how I’ll delight in doing good things for them! Heart and soul, I’ll plant them in this country and keep them here!”
“I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.”
Clearly God’s love for Israel is eternal and nothing they had done would extinguish it. In our day we have seen a partial fulfillment of this prophecy. The Jewish people have returned to their homeland where they are united in a shared heritage, not necessarily a shared faith. But God will bring it about and make a way for them to live good whole lives. He will write his law on their hearts. Then he will delight in doing good things for them. Knowing their suffering through the ages, I look forward to seeing it!
Lord, all I have in you was made possible by ancient, faithful Hebrews who preserved the revelation of yourself, who you are and what you require of us. Their descendants have suffered greatly for it these past 2000 years. May the time of their restoration come soon. Strengthen them I their faith with they wait for it.
You are wonderful! You have not required us to learn about you by ritual and guess work. Instead, you have done what no other god has, revealed yourself to us, and what a surprise. What ancient pagan could imagine such a god? You are truly totally other, totally beyond our speculation, surprising in every way. You are worthy of adoration and worship, and I delight in giving you mine.