September 12, 2026, Jeremiah 32:36-44
September 12, 2026, Jeremiah 32:36-44
36 “Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you
say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by
famine, and by pestilence’: 37 Behold, I will
gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger
and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this
place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And
they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I
will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for
their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I
will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from
doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that
they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in
doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with
all my heart and all my soul.
42 “For thus says the Lord: Just
as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring
upon them all the good that I promise them. 43 Fields
shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation,
without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ 44 Fields
shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed
and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about
Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill
country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb;
for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”
Just as
God had disciplined His children to get their attention to Him and doing what
is right, He loved those very same children and wanted them to prosper. I can’t help but think of how we react to our
children as parents. We try to teach them
right from wrong, and when we see that they aren’t following the rules we’ve
set, we must discipline them. Our true
desire is for them to do what is right and live happily every after. If only parenting were that easy. As difficult as it is to parent children and
teenagers in this world, I can’t imagine trying to lead an entire nation of
people to do what is right.
Our
sinful nature causes us to continually turn away from what we know is
right. Even the apostle Paul talked
about how he wanted to do what was right and struggled to do what was right
even in the moment as he thought about the decision he was struggling with, he knew the right thing to do and yet he still
struggled.
In these
verses God is sharing what His future plans were for His children and how He
would restore them. It is where He
wanted His children to stay but also gave them (us) the will to make our own
decisions.
Do you,
like me, think back on the mistakes you made when you were young?
How often
do you think, “If only I’d listen to my parents, how much grief I would’ve
saved myself!” I talked to someone recently that shared how they regretted not
listening to their dad about the guys they dated. He had a great sense of people and who was
trustworthy and who wasn’t, and she wished she’d listened rather than run
toward those her dad didn’t like.
I pray
you have lived a life that reflects obedience and love, but if you are like
most of us, you have some regrets. I’m
trying to learn from my past and think through my future decisions better than
those in my past.
What decisions
do you need to make that God could guide you better than your sinful nature?
Praying
for wisdom prior to making decisions is always a good choice!
Comments
Post a Comment