Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 51-52.
Israel had been punished by God at the hand of the Assyrians. Judah had been punished by God at the hand of the Babylonians. At the end of Jeremiah’s prophecy, the Lord told of the coming punishment by God of Babylon at the hand of the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11). In all of this, there was an important point for God’s people to remember:
“For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken by his God, the Lord of hosts, although their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel” (Jeremiah 51:5).
The people of Israel and Judah were God’s chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6). The above passage is talking about God not forsaking a nation as a whole. While we do not live under the same time of collective national identity before God, there are some lessons to be learned.
- God will not forsake His people. Referring to the admonition given on a few occasions in the Old Testament, the Hebrew writer said, “He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).
- Even when we sin, God still desires to save us. This does not mean He continues to have fellowship with us while we are in sin (1 John 1:5-7). Rather it means He is willing to forgive us and receive us back again when we repent of our sins (1 John 1:9; 2 Peter 3:9).
Though we may sin and jeopardize our souls, God is always willing to receive us when we turn back to Him in repentance. We should not think lightly of this kindness and remain in sin (Romans 2:4-6). Rather we should be grateful and repent and serve Him.
Tomorrow’s reading: Lamentations 1:1-3:36
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
