This happened to me yesterday as I read the beginning of Jeremiah. I'll be honest- I began my time in the Word pretty begrudgingly. I was feeling empty and I didn't think there was anything God could say to soften my heart that day...
I'm so glad that I was wrong.
I don't have much to say about it, but I wanted to share these words from God today because maybe someone is feeling the same way that I was yesterday.
I love how it works. First, I read Jeremiah 2.
Jeremiah 2:
"But my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols...
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water...
You said, It’s no use!
I love foreign gods,
and I must go after them...
My people have forgotten me,
days without number.
33 How skilled you are at pursuing love!...
Yet in spite of all this
35 you say, I am innocent;
he is not angry with me.
Yep that's me.
Trying to hold my own water in a broken cistern instead of going to the spring of life.
I pursue love elsewhere.
I have exchanged the glory of God for worthless idols.
But then- in the very next chapter I hear the grace that I do not deserve. Read this!
Jeremiah 3:
Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord,
I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord,
I will not be angry forever...
Return, faithless people, declares the Lord, for I am your husband. I will choose you...
How gladly would I treat you like my children
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’
and not turn away from following me.
That is GRACE people. And it's overwhelming!
I do not deserve His love and faithfulness. But He gives it to me anyway.
I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord,
I will not be angry forever...
Return, faithless people, declares the Lord, for I am your husband. I will choose you...
How gladly would I treat you like my children
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’
and not turn away from following me.
That is GRACE people. And it's overwhelming!
I do not deserve His love and faithfulness. But He gives it to me anyway.
He asks me to call Him F A T H E R .
He CHOOSES me despite my faithlessness.
So cherish His grace today. Let it sweetly break your heart.
