Jeremiah’s Encouragement - Part Two –                                                                            G-4

 

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.  I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt… 

See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth.  Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return… 

I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble… 

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow… 

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest…”

Jeremiah 31 (NIV)

  

WOW!  What promises!  What encouragement!  What a bright future!  Except probably for others instead of me. 

You may have heard that particular lie and believed it; you may think you  still dwell at the “ends of the earth”; you may feel blind and lame physically,  mentally, or emotionally; you may feel your sorrow and mourning are permanent; you may feel that you don’t really know God as you would want to; and you may feel you are among the “least” among God’s people. 

These promises are for YOU AND ME, TODAY, RIGHT NOW … ALL of them without exception!  These are promises straight from God’s heart, so you can count on them!  Just ask your Father, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, to change your heart and mind so you can accept these gifts!

 

1) “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”  What does this statement mean? 

2) What does it mean to you? 

3) “See, I will bring them (you and me!) from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth.  Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return…”  Do you think you would fit in with these people? 

4) “I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble… I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow…”  If you lived in a desert area, wouldn’t these words have a special meaning? 

5) What will God do for these people?  See above! 

6) Finally, can you see these words applying to you?