Read Jeremiah 32
The most precious thing to be called by the Lord is: ‘My people!’ But how can God’s people who are facing the immediate expulsion from their land have confidence in the Lord’s care and
They failed to keep God’s covenant. The Lord said of them: “32 The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done ... 33 They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.”
When one of your long-standing friends turns their back on you and no longer wants to have anything to do with you, it might be tempting to cut them off forever. If attempts to reconcile ends in tears and further hurt, when the gulf between you is like a giant chasm, all appearances indicate an end to what was once precious. Our energy and thoughts for closing that divide see futile.
Yet with the Lord, although He disciplines those He loves, He will never cut us off. The people of Judah had thrown away their relationship with the Lord and turned their backs on Him, but still He could say: “37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God.”
The Lord holds them dearly to His heart. They were going to suffer as exiled people in a foreign land under foreign leadership and government. But He assures them that He will bring them back to live in this very place from where they were banished. But they will not be the same, arrogant and disobedient people – they will be devoted to the Lord and live as “My people”.
Have a look at v39ff where the Lord says: “I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”
How does God do this? How does He forget all our sins and give us a pure heart to love and obey Him?
He gave His Son, the precious Lord Jesus, who gave Himself to die in our place, taking the guilt and paying the price for our sins. Graham Kendrick has summed it up well in saying:
The price is paid, come let us enter in
To all that Jesus died to make our own
For every sin more than enough He gave
And bought our freedom from each guilty stain
To all that Jesus died to make our own
For every sin more than enough He gave
And bought our freedom from each guilty stain
The price is paid, Alleluia
Amazing grace, so strong and sure
And so with all my heart my life in every part
I live to thank You for the price You paid
How does God do it? It is with the death of His Son and the work of His Holy Spirit in our life. And now we live to sing His praise and live to honour our Lord and God.
Prayer:
Using today’s passage and the reading notes spend time in prayer.
Adoration:
Confession:
Thanks:
Supplication:
· ·Pray that God would be powerfully present among your congregation this weekend and that the Word would be faithfully and powerfully preached. Pray that God’s Word would challenge, rebuke, strengthen and encourage each individual as needed.
· ·Pray that your church would see great growth and conversions as the Word is proclaimed and lived out.
1. What does it mean to turn your back and not your face to God?
2. What would the world look like if every person turned their face to God?
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