God Kept His Promises

For Tuesday, October 18

God Kept His Promises

Jeremiah 31:27-32:44; 1 Timothy 3:1-16; Psalm 88:1-18; Proverbs 25:20-22 (click to read)

(Jeremiah 31) 33 Here is the new agreement that I, the LORD, will make with the people of Israel: "I will write my laws on their hearts and minds. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 "No longer will they have to teach one another to obey me. I, the LORD, promise that all of them will obey me, ordinary people and rulers alike. I will forgive their sins and forget the evil things they have done."

This is far and away my favorite part of Jeremiah. The book is so full of "please repent and follow me" that grace is very clear. It is ONLY intentional rejection that God is punishing. And the length of time the prophets plead for change is more than decades. Yet in the end it will be up to God's action to make thing right: 1) the Exile will come because the people and especially the leaders will not turn and follow. So they will go BUT God will sustain them and return them in 70 years; 2) it is not just the culture, the system that needs changing - it is also the people themselves, their internals, their mindset. And God will recreate that as well - as is stated above. I tend to read this as fulfilled in the age of the Church and the Gift of the Holy Spirit. But we believers are not that "mature" and "faithful" yet, so maybe this is still in the age to come. But the promise to do something INSIDE of a person has been given. Each believer lives with God's Spirit to teach, guide, correct, and relate to. He has kept His Promise.

I am so grateful, Holy Lord, for Your Promise, Your Spirit, and Your Faithful Character of Grace and Mercy. Help me every day to turn to You when I am off course, and to Trust Your Grace for every day.

(You can download the Pathway 2011 Bible reading list here.)