Jeremiah 31
From Jeremiah's Journal
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God wants everyone to know He loves them.
Israel and Judah have sinned a lot. A lot! God has given me many messages to give to the people warning them of a terrible punishment that would come.
They have not stop worshipping idols brought to our city from other nations. They have not given their whole hearts to worship the very God who made them and delivered them from slavery in Egypt. This is what God asks.
The punishment has already started. Many of our people have been taken as captives to the Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. Do you think the people who remained behind would have been so troubled about what happened that they would have turned immediately to God and stopped worshipping idols? Sad to say, they have not.
Led by King Zedekiah, our king who has not listened to the messages from God, the people act as if they don't care. Like they don't believe God will punish them, too. But He will.
Sigh. Do I sound a bit frustrated? I am.
But God continues to love His chosen people. These are His words:
"He who appoints the sun to shine by day,
Who decrees the moon and starts to shine by night,
Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar--
The Lord Almighty is his name.
Only if these decrees vanish from my sight
Will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.
Only if the heavens above can be measured
And the foundations of the earth below be searched out
Will I reject all the descendants of Israel
Because of all they have done."
You see? Despite what we do, God still loves us and always will. God then said,
"The days are coming when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hanannel to the Corner Gate. The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. The whole valley, where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished."
Now, those are good words.
This doesn't mean God says it is okay to sin. No. We are to obey His words. But it does mean, God loves us.
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1. What does God want us to know?
2. What did the people continue to do wrong?
3. What did the group of people left behind in the city continue to do wrong?
4. What did God say would happen to the city, "The days are coming when..."
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