Tag: <span>jeremiah 31</span>

“For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes.” Jeremiah 31:25 (NASB)


Oh no, I’ll be right back,” she said. The babysitter had informed her that her three-year-old boy was having stomach flu symptoms and was worried he was dehydrated. The panicked mother drove home as fast as she could. One of the first things she did was to give him a replenishing drink, carefully measured, so as not to overdo. Then she sighed. Why was she so foolish to think that working out tonight was a good idea? She never should have gone. She beat herself up with her thoughts, feeling punished and guilty. These were common feelings for her, since she often bounced from one guilty worry to the next, which she thought was par for the course as a mother of four.

Our verse today reminds us that godly replenishment is needed and important. God wants for us to both minister to others as well as accept ministry towards ourselves, which sometimes means seeking it out.

Satan would like for us to sit in the darkness of worry, fear, doubt, and guilt, but God says that we can find full restoration and replenishment with Him. In Christ alone, we have full freedom to live well by doing our best. And like the tender mother offering her son sips of water, God can replenish us each day as well.

Dear Jesus, I am so thankful You replenish me every time I need sleep, healing, rest, or exercise so I can be ready to minister to others. I love caring for others and I recognize that I can do it even better when I take time to care for myself. Please let me find things to do that honor You in my replenishment, and please continue to faithfully restore me each time I lose my way, whether through guilt or sin. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thought: Carve out a time today when you can find replenishment. Don’t allow the guilty thoughts about the “Have To’s” overshadow the “Need To’s” of today. Proper rest, exercise, healthy food choices, and especially prayer and time in God’s Word will keep you feeling refreshed.

By Christa Hardin
Used by Permission

We Welcome your comments.

Enter Email
reCAPTCHA

www.thelife.com/dailydevotions


Further Reading

•  Hope for the Hopeless

•  A Poem of Hope

•  Salvation Explained


SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL: FOLLOW THIS LINK


Follow Us On:  Facebook  • Twitter  •  Instagram  •  Pinterest


thoughts by Christa Hardin Thoughts by Women

daily devotionals online

I, the LORD, will make a New Covenant, not like the one I made before. I will write my instruction on their hearts; I will be their God and they shall be my people. They will all know me, and I will forgive and forget their sins. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

I’ve been reflecting lately on the New Covenant. As a pastor, it has been important to me because each time I have led my church in communion (aka the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist), I’ve read Jesus’ words: “this cup is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:20). There is something powerful, something significant there, but as a 21st century Gentile, the ancient Jewish history is easily lost on me.

The part of that new covenant that is grabbing me right now are the words in the middle:
I will be their God and they shall be my people.

I’m taking each word in turn and reflecting on its significance in the context and for me personally.

I will be their God — I, the Creator of heaven and earth, life giver and life sustainer. I, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I, Yahweh, the LORD; I AM THAT I AM. I, the I AM who appeared and revealed Myself to Moses in the wilderness. I, gracious and compassionate, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. I, both the Judge and the Forgiver of Sins. I, the Redeemer, the Savior, the Messiah/Christ. I—and no other—will be their God.

I will be their God — I am not yet their God, as much as I want to be; they haven’t let me be their God. But I will be; one day in the future, I will be; they will let me, want me, long for me. Not yet, but one day….

I will be their God — Specifically, I will be the God of the House of Israel and the House of Jacob. In that future day when I will be their God, “they” will include Gentiles grafted into that house like a wild olive shoot grafted into an olive tree (Romans 11:11-24). I will be the God of all those who believe in me, who worship the Christ Redeemer, who reject all other gods. I will be their God.

And they — those same ones who believe in Me—shall be My people.

And they shall be My people — they’re not yet; remember, they haven’t accepted Me yet. They’ve fought me and left me and rejected me and pretended to be me. But one day, they shall be my people.

And they shall be My people — I will claim them and adopt them and love them as my own. I will nourish them, nurture them, teach them. I will lavish my extravagant love upon them. They shall be mine, my very own, and no one else’s.

And they shall be My people — not my peoples, distinct and numerous different groups; but people…one people, one family, one body, one Church…one. Each one unique and special and a treasured possession, but still one people. My people, my children, my dearly loved ones.

They shall be My people.

To one who has never known family, never known the passionate, fault-forgiving, undying love of a mother or father, these words are almost impossible to explain. It is difficult to fully grasp the hope that is laced into the words, “I will be their God and they shall be My people.” It’s a bit like trying to explain to a 20-year-old how they will know when they have met “the right one”: you will just know it.

When Jeremiah wrote God’s words the New Covenant, “I will be their God and they shall be My people,” it was still future; it was not yet.

When Jesus Christ brought the New Covenant into reality, it became now and not yet.
One day—when the time is come and The Day is upon us and Christ comes again—the New Covenant will simply be now.

And the LORD will say, “I am their God, and they are My people.” Welcome home.

By Randy Ehle
Used by permission

We Welcome your comments.

Enter Email
reCAPTCHA

Originally posted at http://randehle.com/2016/01/25/i-will-be-their-god/  on Jan. 25, 2016. Used by permission

Reading this by email? Please comment by Clicking on the Title at the top

Brought to you by www.thoughts-about-god.com

Photo Credit: Jomme https://www.flickr.com/photos/jomme/  Some Rights Reserved: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Thoughts by All Thoughts by Men thoughts by Randy Ehle